


A Road to Obsession

by Keissen



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Dark, During tftbl, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Katagawa-centric, Kidnapping, Like Katagawa being a character, M/M, No Beta, Obsession, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Rating May Change, Slow Build, Some Spoilers, Warnings May Change, of bl3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2020-10-30 10:50:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keissen/pseuds/Keissen
Summary: Katagawa never expected to be obsessed with a former Hyperion employee, but life is full of surprises and carefully constructed plans can change.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own rights to either the games or it's characters.

He had been still a teenager when Helios crashed down into Pandora. 

It was quite a monumental event; you didn’t see every day one of the lead companies turn into a shadow of itself in just a few moments. That ugly H shaped station had disappeared from space taking with itself Hyperion and everything connected to that psycho Handsome Jack; becoming just another metal trash on the surface of previous CEO’s favourite planet. A fitting and symbolic end if you asked Katagawa.

Maliwan could now take its righteous place as the number one. Unfortunately, his father was still a CEO and he was stuck learning the ropes of the industry from his daddy dearest. Everything about teaching your children about business would be all right if not for a small detail - Katagawa Sr. didn’t do that because he loved his children, no. 

His reasoning was less altruistic and more egoistical. Katagawa Sr. knew what he was doing… twelve children meant twelve failsafes in case of an accident, it meant that his ‘creations’ would be the ones in charge of Maliwan after his death - his legacy continuing as if nothing happened. 

Katagawa was the youngest so his expiration date was quite long and that was why he hadn’t even been given a normal name like his siblings. He was just Katagawa Jr.

His name was the ultimate insult. He was even more of a tool for Katagawa Sr. to use and a way to make that old geezer live through him when he would get too old to do his job – as if Katagawa Jr. would let him breath for so long. Since he had been a child he knew what would happen in the future – he would kill Katagawa Sr. and become his own person. 

He would not let anyone win ever again.

But not yet.

He was still too young, nobody would treat him seriously if he made a move know. Even if he would be successful in exterminating his father, there were still other people in the company with higher position than Katagawa and he knew that they would never accept a teenager as their boss. Sooner or later he would be sitting in the same chair as Katagawa Sr. – metaphorically because as soon as he would get the CEO’s office, he would be throwing away that chair.

Until then…

It pained him to admit it but there were still some things that he could learn from CEO of Maliwan. He was patient, he would bid his time until he could cut of some branches from the tree called family, until he would be the only Katagawa – not Junior or extension of his father. 

But let’s not forget about other cockroaches namely his siblings.

He hated them with passion. He was the only one that got beaten and humiliated for the smallest of mistakes but they? They didn’t do anything outside of spending money left and right on useless things without any consequences. They were wastes of space and oxygen and he couldn’t wait for the time when he would get them murdered. He was the last one in line and he will not be cheated out of his rightfully earned place at the top of the food chain. 

So it came as a surprise when Naoko – his older sister – brought something interesting to his attention or rather he was just passing by when she was telling it to their sister. 

They were sitting outside, on a bench while staring at the blue sky soaking up some sun light.

‘’Did you hear? Some people survived Helios crashing into Pandora and they’ve made a cult.’’ Naoko said with the greatest imitation of a spy from old movies. It sounded to him ridiculous; she was so flashy that even a blind person would have seen her not even mentioning people with working senses.

‘’A cult? What’s interesting in that? They are probably another group of Handsome Jack fans’’ Yuko rolled her eyes without looking at Naoko. It wasn’t every day that he could agree with his sibling. Handsome Jack had some many fans or rather blindly following worshipers, that a cult popping out in his name? Old news. Who would ex-Hyperion employees follow if not their god – even buried 6 feet under the ground. That whole corporation was like one big cult so he was not surprised that survivors of Helios catastrophe would come back to their old habits.

‘’No! That’s why it’s interesting! There is someone else they worship now… I’ve heard it’s the same person that destroyed Helios and ‘let them out of their cocoon so they can become beautiful butterflies’ ’’

‘’Naoko… where did you hear that?’’

‘’Well… I’ve heard it from Peter who heard it from Ichigo who had met a few survivors’’

Yuko made a face and resumed doing whatever she was doing before; he could see it from this angle.

‘’Peter is a fucking liar, you know that’’

‘’Maybe there is some truth to the rumors!’’

He didn’t hear anything else after that, he had heard enough. 

He quickly went inside so his dear sisters wouldn’t see him eavesdropping on their conversation. 

Katagawa Jr. was going around Maliwan HQ, without any direction, deep in thought. He was thinking about what he heard and the significance of it - another cult could make his plans more difficult to accomplish especially when the followers are ex-Hyperion workers. Who knew who leads them? Maybe they would decide to make Hyperion great again and he could not have that. Someone was gracious enough to take down the biggest threat out of the picture and he wouldn’t waste that chance.

He had to know who did it. He had to know who was the one that destroyed this titan of a company. He had to know who the new leader of this cult was. He hated not knowing, being clueless and not prepared for what was to come. He had to do some research on his competition or maybe a future ally if he would play his cards right. 

And if it was just a stupid rumour… Then he would be certain that Hyperion was no more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm speechless. I've never expected that this story would get some much attention? Wow! 
> 
> I had so much energy from reading your comments that I've already finished this chapter. (ง ˃̶͈̀ᗨ˂̶͈́)۶
> 
> I wanted to publish it tomorrow but... I'll be busy so here it is! 
> 
>   
I hope there aren't any mistakes, because it took me 5 reads to catch that instead of writing button I have written bottom in relation to Katagawa and it showing exactly were my mind is XD   


No one could say that Katagawa was depended on them. He may be only seventeen but he had already planed most things ahead. Thanks to that insight he could now withdraw a couple thousand credits to pay off some spies. 

He had started setting his own accounts under false names all over the place some years ago and then he had proceeded to save some money on them. Katagawa had known that they would be useful. Some of those credits were ‘borrowed’ from Maliwan’s accounts but that wasn’t a problem. In less than ten years this corporation would be his so… 

And the head of accounting was a very naïve guy. A little conversation and compliments put in all the right places had made him putty in his hands. Nothing inappropriate had happened he had just distracted him with his great skills such as perfected small talk. Even if something like that would had happened then he would had simply cut off the guy’s hand. 

While they had been talking about something that only head of the accounting would care about, Katagawa's small hacking device had been making all of those tiny transfers from Maliwan’s account into several of his own. Small enough amounts so no one would even notice it in this mess called Accounting Department. 

He would have pointed it out to his father for some appreciation in the future but the state of this part of the company suited him very well. As soon as he would get to the top he would clean it up and made it not only efficient but also more secure. No one would be able to steal from his corporation.

But that was something to solve for the future.

Right now Katagawa had different problems which were quite unexpected but he wouldn’t have been where he was now without being flexible and adaptable. Nothing was given him on a silver platter. He might be CEO’s son but that didn’t give him any advantages over some peasants at the very bottom. Katagawa would even argue that expectation put upon him were far bigger and consequences far more severe if he would have not meet them. He wouldn’t fail; he wouldn’t end up like his brother who just disappeared into thin air after one big verbal fight with Katagawa Sr.

He wasn’t stupid.

The only thing he needed right now was a place where he could sit down and write some messages down and send them to his spies. He had already done what he had to do today, playing the part of a dutiful and obedient son who would absolutely never think about murdering the old man. That was tiring in itself because of how difficult it was to be intelligent enough not to earn a punishment but stupid enough so his father wouldn’t feel threatened.

He was walking casually around HQ of Maliwan, searching for a suitable place to sit down and do his own thing. Unfortunately, he couldn't go to his room because of cameras placed around. So when he saw a small enclave he immediately hid in it. He made sure that there was no equipment monitoring this particular place.

When Katagawa was sure about his safety, he took his ECHO out and started typing a message on a secure line.

_There is some information that I want you to find out._  
_I want to know everything there is to know about this new cult made by ex-Hyperion workers and who they are worshipping. You have two weeks. Payment as usual.  
_

__

__

He sent an email and waited for an answer. Katagawa didn’t have to wait long though; the amount of money he had to pay guaranteed him that his requests were at the top of the list. After less than two minutes there was a soft sound indicating that he got what he was waiting for.

_Understood._

He closed off his ECHO and sighed.

In two weeks time he would know everything but for now…

‘’What are you doing in here?’’

He felt his muscles tense at the sound. It took everything from him not to jumpy out of his skin. Katagawa turned his head slowly towards his dear sister; he couldn’t let her see how truly off guard he was caught.

‘’Leaning against the wall?’’ He let the surprise he had felt slip into his voice, maybe it would made Naoko felt ridiculous for asking such obvious question.

‘’In here?’’ She had made a vague move with her right hand.

‘’You know how much I dislike direct sun light, sister’’ It was a lie but a very useful one when he didn’t want others to become suspicious as of why he spend some much time indoors. 

Or hidden from sight like right now.

‘’Oh… Yeah.’’

Any conversation he had with his siblings was awkward, there was nothing they could discus without it falling short. Naoko was the only one that still bothered to do it even when the only thing connecting them was their DNA. Maybe she had been feeling obligated to do so for their age difference was quite small.

But still it sometimes puzzled Katagawa – when he even bothered to muse about his bothersome family – there was absolutely nothing to gain from this. He didn’t believe that she of all people discovered the truth – which he wasn’t who he appeared to be – because his acting skills were amazing and his façade stayed impeccable as always.

If it wasn’t then he would probably lay in a ditch somewhere, being a buffet for various organisms that fest on corpses.

‘’Father wants us to have a family dinner’’

So this was why she even bothered to search for him. Very well. He would grace them with his presence while thinking about the best way of getting them all of the picture. He was still unsure what way of murdering would bring him the most satisfaction; he couldn’t rush it because resurrection cost a lot and he wouldn’t waste credits on reviving useless body bags. 

‘’When does he wants us to meet?’’

‘’6 PM’’

Something important must had happened. He was never one for rushing things like that, any invitation was sent at least two days prior.

‘’Thank you for telling me. I’ll be there.’’

He smiled at her with a practiced expression – charming and innocent enough so it didn’t come up as something fake and practiced for this purpose.

He brushed past Naoko and went his way towards his room. There were a couple of things he had to take with him and after looking at the time, he had realized that there was not much of it left before dinner.

When he stepped into the room, he felt more relaxed even knowing that he didn’t have any privacy in here. He knew where every camera was but as of yet there was no need to tamper with them. It would best to have as little interference with it as he could and reserve it for more dire situations. 

His bedroom didn’t have a lot of furniture; the main object in it was queen sized bed with green, silky sheets on the right side of the room. On the left side there was a wooden desk with a drawer made of metal. It wasn’t the most secure; its purpose was serving as a decoy so anyone who would get a bright idea to search his room would automatically go there. His more… interesting toys were hidden somewhere else.

Near the desk there was a wardrobe with his clothes and this was where Katagawa went to. 

He changed his suit into something more sophisticated. Green button-down shirt was his favourite so he had changed into it for this occasion. Maybe he would see something truly interesting and this whole family meeting wouldn’t be a total waste of time.

He truly wished it wasn't that way but unfortunately it never was. There were things he could do instead of pretending he enjoyed the company of said dinner like practicing his sword fighting techniques. 

At least he could use them to cut off some heads.

He closed the wardrobe and looked in the mirror.

Staring back at him there was a teenager turning into a young adult. He looked with light-coloured eyes at his close-to-head slicked back hair. His hands curled into fists, short nails digging into his palms. He stood like that for a few seconds until he relaxed and smiled. 

It was time.

He stood before big wooden doors, making last improvements on his appearance. The last thing you would want was looking imperfect; Katagawa Sr. was strict about representing the company and projecting control outside even with your clothing.

This was the only part where their ideologies connected, where Katagawa would agree with his father without feeling dirty.

He took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was to come. He put his hands on the door handle and pushed them with a confidence. They opened to reveal a big and empty room save for enormous dark wooden table with chairs. His father was sitting at the head of the table and behind him there was a large window showing off the planet’s big, green trees. Further away you could see bright blue water and permanently orange-coloured sky.

No wonder this was a planet where Maliwan’s HQ was located.

He nearly rolled his eyes at the thought. Sitting on the planet when you could travel all around the galaxy seemed to him a little stupid.

‘’You are the last one. Sit’’

And no one would ever say that he wasn’t petty. Subtle displace of dominance were the only pleasure he could take from these dinners, and making them wait for him was what he could get away with. 

He would take what he could.

He sat down on the chair which unfortunately was across his father’s.

The room was silent, everyone was staring somewhere with blank expressions on their faces, nobody wanted to betray their real feelings.

‘’Hyperion turned into dust as it always was intendent. I believe you all are aware of its demise and what a chance it is for us to rise above our competition.’’ Katagawa Sr. said while looking into space.

‘’Of course, father’’ 

A chorus of different voices rung in the room bouncing of the walls, creating echo.

‘’Before us there is only an empty ecosystem without the top predator, ripe for the taking. This is our chance to rise to dominance and push all other companies out of it. And as in the nature of a true apex hunter, we have to kill our prey without remorse. Before we do that, we have to make other predators that search for an opportunity to rise in hierarchy, weaker so they too will become our prey. ’’

Some of his siblings were smirking proudly as if the state of the world was caused by them when in reality they did nothing and continue to do nothing productive. 

‘’But that task won’t be easy. Let’s not be fooled into thinking that Torgue, Dhal or Jacobs are going to stay idly by and do nothing. They too will put more effort to become number one and we cannot have that!’’

Katagawa Sr. suddenly stood up from his chair, making those closes to him jump slightly. You could feel tension in the room rising to unbearable levels.

‘’Such opportunity will not present itself again. This is crucial for our development. This might be the beginning of our own age… golden age. Maliwan have a chance to rule but for that to happen there is needed a little sacrifice.’’

He started walking - or the better word to describe it would be gliding- on the right side of the table. He still wasn’t looking at anyone in particular, behaving as if there was no one inside.

‘’The payment for achieving this spot will be effort, blood and tears’’

He was in the middle of the table, Naoko who was sitting the closed to father’s chair, visibly relaxed. It couldn’t be seen by Katagawa Sr. but all the others did.

‘’We have to work even more to reach out for this number one spot so it won’t be stolen from before our noses’’

Katagawa felt a slight breeze coming from his right.

He felt big hands clasping on the back of his chair, radiating warm. This type of warm wasn’t comforting but oppressive, making him feel vulnerable with his back towards the person he didn’t trust.

‘’Right, son?’’


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are all breathtaking! <s>an old meme but ok </s>
> 
> I loved all of your comments! They worked better than energy drink ( ͡ʘ ͜ʖ ͡ʘ)
> 
> So you'll get a nearly 3k chapter from a sloth such as me <3

The next day he was sent to Department of Advertisement and Propaganda. He had to meet Vice President of this particular department and learn what was required of him in it.  


That was the information he had learned from a very short and to the point message. So this was what he did, wearing yet another suit – this time it was grey - the colour perfectly reflected his excitement for standing in the hallway and waiting for a VP who was obviously late.

Katagawa didn’t know who paid them and how this guy got where he was with his lack of responsibility, but as soon as he got any say in the company, he would shed blood.

‘’Katagawa Jr.?’’

He felt his left eye twitch at the sound. Good thing he was standing with his back to whoever said that.

He hated when people called him that. He hated that name with such burning passion as nothing else in his life. It was like a slap to his cheek, a needle put in the most sensitive of places and it only served to make him angry.

‘’Yes?’’

He turned around and smiled pleasantly at the person who was standing behind him. There stood a woman in her thirties. She had her blond hair tied in a bun and full of intelligence green eyes that just popped out due to her lightly tanned skin. She was wearing a white blouse, dark blue pencil skirt that ended just above the knee and black heels.

‘’I’m Lynne and I will be your guide today’’

Her voice was quite pleasant with slight undertone of a company person who had seen a lot of shit and they wouldn’t take it from you.

He looked around, trying to see if there was another person in the hallway.

‘’And where is Vice President?’’

‘’He have a meeting with the CEO’’

She said unimpressed as if he was just another inconvenience that graced the world and she was the one that had to suffer because of it.

But he didn’t care what someone so unrecognizable thought of him. She was probably permanently stuck in whatever position she was in and so her competence wouldn’t be very big. She wouldn’t be useful.

And so his thought turned towards something else.

His father had sent him here to learn from the VP of Advertisement and Propaganda and then proceeded to summon his very ‘teacher’ for a little talk? What was his end goal? What did he wanted to accomplish? Or maybe he was simply taking a perverse pleasure from controlling and dictating Katagawa Jr. as he so fit at the moment. He wouldn’t put it past the older Katagawa.

‘’Oh, I didn’t expect that’’

He had said after a few seconds of silence.

‘’In this line of work you have to expect the unexpected’’

‘’Please lead the way’’

He said, biting back a sharp retort. He wouldn’t lose his cool just because someone felt better than him. On the contrary, it suited Katagawa that people underestimated him but that didn’t mean he wasn’t annoyed when it would happen.

She turned around without another word and started walking in the direction where she had come from. He didn’t waste time and followed her; it left him in a position where he was just two steps behind her.

They were walking for a while, without talking, with only the sound of clicking heels on a tiled floor.

‘’As I understand you’ve never been here before?’’

She said without even looking back at him.

‘’Yes, I’ve only started this part of my education’’

Katagawa answered quickly and without any unnecessary words.

‘’Hmm…’’

They stopped briefly at the door where Lynne put out her card to open the door. They opened quickly with a quite whoosh revealing what was inside.

They went into a conference room like any other. She then marched to take the closest chair and then sat down. Lynne then made a move with her left hand, pointing a chair opposite her so Katagawa could sit down there.

And he did without much happiness inside himself. 

‘’I have some task that I should asignate you but before I do I feel like I should explain something.’’

She put her hands together at the top of the table, starring him in the eyes lazily. The cleavage was made more visible due to that movement. Anyone in the position in which Katagawa was could see the swell of her breasts just teasingly peaking out.

He stared at her, not taking his eyes away from hers. He knew what was she doing and he wouldn’t fell for it - such primitive reaction and impulses were below him.  
She clearly would use everything she could and that said a lot about the person he had to deal with.

‘’I’m all ears.’’

He said quite seriously, he just wanted to have this meeting out of the way.

‘’Cute.’’ Her voice was deadpan, not at all reflecting the meaning of the word said at loud. She was clearly not amused that her little trick hadn’t worked on him. 

Oh well… you should always expect the unexpected.

‘’But I’m where I am because of competence’’ She added after a second.

‘’Are you implying something?’’ Katagawa’s voice dropped dangerously low, he felt his smile freezzing on his face. There was a line that he wouldn’t let anyone cross even if his façade would be damaged. He wouldn’t let this bottom feeder, pathetic piranha in the sea of sharks, insult his intelligence and competence - insult him and imply that his dear old daddy helped him in any way or made his life easier.

He saw her muscle tense and then forcefully relax. She tried to save her face after playing her hand wrong.

‘’No, not at all.’’ 

She nonchalantly leaned back in the chair, breaking eye contact with him.

After a minute she continued as if nothing had happened.

‘’Propaganda is crucial in every business. It’s information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view. And what are our politics? Making the best guns in the world’’

She looked out the window, deep in thought.

‘’Aren’t they?’’

‘’What?’’

She slowly turned around to look at him with confused expression on her face.

He nearly rolled his eyes at the woman.

‘’Aren’t our guns the best in the world? Is it really propaganda when you spread true information?’’

He asked innocently but there was nothing innocent about what he said. He knew in what position he had put her, either she would admit that Maliwan’s guns were not as good as the company said it were which would end with her… termination or another option would be admitting that what she said was not true and thus undermining her knowledge and competence in a position she was in.

Katagawa knew she had caught on with the situation because her smirk told him so.

‘’Ohh I see what you did here.’’ 

She sounded impressed as if she never expected to take part in verbal chess with him; like he was a dog who did a magic trick.

‘’That’s why this department is called advertisement and propaganda’’

‘’What should I do here?’’ He leaned in his own chair, copying her posture.

‘’An advertisement. Usually there is a whole team of people sitting in one room, thinking about the best way to promote guns but… there was an accident. So you’ll going to come up with something catchy and interesting’’

She waved her hand as if she wanted to dismiss the very notion.

‘’So what was the point of a whole team if may I ask?’’

He relaxed his body even more, projecting a message of someone who didn’t felt threatened. In reality he didn’t let his guard down. The worst attack came when you least expect them.

‘’None! That’s why there is no team anymore!’’

What a waste of funds, it was good that someone in the corporation saw a need in cutting some people off.

‘’CEO himself decided that you are a right person at the right time in this dire situation!’’

She became livelier, as if there was some switch flipped on, making her behaving differently. Suddenly she was being nice? He didn’t buy it.

‘’How much time do I have to think of something?’’

‘’Hmm… three hours? Something like that. You can use some old schemes’’ 

Yet again she waved her hand and smirked at him.

‘’You know what, young Katagawa? I’ll give you some tips because I like you! I really think that you have potential!’’

‘’It’s nice of you to say so’’

What was this bull? He didn’t have the time for playing games with a player with low experience and pathetic skills. If her propaganda was as good as her manipulation then he wasn’t surprised with quality of their ads. He did some research and it showed how much sales plumed down due to wrongly executed marketing.

‘’At least you listened! Not many young man to that for an old lady such as myself’’ Lynne touched her chest feigning surprise.

‘’Anyways, this is what you need to know: People are stupid’’

So he waited all this time to learn something he had already known?

‘’Majority of people buying guns are bandits, they cannot recognise quality even if it smacked them in their faces. So our guns? A lot of lights and noises… They love that shit!’’ 

Katagawa stared at her without saying anything, waiting her to finish so he could get what he needed faster.

‘’And adverts have to be like that! Appeal to their basic instincts. Use a lot of ‘we’ and ‘our’ so they feel like we are in this together. Let them feel as something more than just warm wallets. The problem with words is that you cannot go overbroad with them. They have to be simple and descriptive if you know what I mean’’ 

She winked at him.

‘’So no words with more than four syllables, bandits cannot count on the fingers of their hand because most of them have like three digits.’’ 

She crossed her arms and leaned forward, putting whole weight of her upper body on the table.

‘’Also, mention the name a lot because they have bad memory and if you do that it will stay in their head at least for the whole ad. I mean… who would have any brain damage after living on a planet like Pandora?’’

Lynne chuckled at her own joke.

This was just ridiculous.

‘’What do you want?’’

He was done playing games. Katagawa’s time was valuable in opposition to this waste of space. He didn’t have a whole day to listen to her pathetic attempts in manipulation and appealing to his ego didn’t work.

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’You want something from me’’

‘’Doesn’t everybody?’’

She smiled at him but the smile didn’t reach her green eyes. They were cold and calculative.

‘’Then maybe we should skip whatever this is and go to the main point’’

He was getting impatient and so he had let this feeling bleed into his voice. 

‘’Okay, if you don’t want foreplay. I want to become the Vice President’’

He nearly laughed out loud. She as a VP? He didn’t remember the last time he had heard a better joke. Maybe he should string her along and get a good laugh or two?

‘’It’s good to have an ambition but how would I’ve be able you help you? I’m only a lowly employee’’

He didn’t let her see how much he had found what she said funny. He feigned innocence while putting his hand on his chest; a move quite similar to what she had done before.

‘’It would be a favor. I would own you one and me as VP would be an… advantage for a lowly employee such as yourself’’

‘’An interesting offer Lynne, but I don’t see how it would be beneficial to me especially seeing how high is the chance of being caught’’

Death was something afforded as a mercy when information about treachery would reach CEO and they always did. He might be his son but he wouldn’t get a special treatment when the future of the company would be threatened.

‘’A favor which can be anything, but not me dying or losing my place, is not what I would call worthless’’

She glared at him while he was sitting across from here and looking at Lynne with blank expression on his face. He was thinking.

‘’I want three favors’’

He said after a minute of tense silence.

He could see clearly her disbelief at what he said but Katagawa didn’t care. He wasn’t the one desperate enough to involve complete strangers into his plans.

But it might be useful for him in the future. He would - as revenge for making him wait and listen to this spiel - get rid of the current VP and then install one who would be dependent on him. He would get three wishes and a blackmail material so really… in meant more than that.

And if anything would go wrong then he would simple toss her under the metaphorical bus and be done with it.

‘’Do I look like a genie to you?’’

She looked positively murderous.

‘’Hmm… I guess not.’’ 

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and then got up from the chair.

'’I will have the advertisement ready in three hours’’

He saw her face transforming into surprise before he turned around and made his way to the door. He took out his card when suddenly he heard.

‘’All right! Three wishes for Katagawa Jr. and my ass in the VIP chair of VP!’’

Katagawa stopped for enough time so he could clearly hear her decision and then he walked out of the room without looking back. 

He had an ad to think of.

After a week, there was an unfortunate accident which ended with an open spot for a Vice President of Advertisement and Propaganda.

The company at least at face value was mourning, his father was angry a little but in the end he didn’t care that much.

In two days time there was a new VP put in place of the old one.

Everything returned to normal as it could get in a corporation such as Maliwan.

They didn’t talk about anything after their first meeting, he was busy with new adverts and she was doing her own stuff. He didn’t care as long as he would get his promised three wishes and he would collect them in due time.

Katagawa had been working constantly for two weeks so it came as a surprised when he got a message.

He ignored it for a whole day, not wanting anyone to see it. 

As soon as he got inside his room, he sat down on the chair near his desk. He took out his ECHO and activated a pre-recorded footage from his bedroom. It was showing him working furiously on something work-related so he had the time to do his own thing.

And anyone who would want to ‘check’ on him would see him sitting in his chair after they opened the door.

So he was fairly safe to do as he wished for a few hours.

He opened the message he got from his spy.

_Everything you wanted is in this file._

So he opened it and saw hundreds of entries. He hadn’t expected so much especially after the space station had crushed down and probably had killed majority of the people  
inside.

No matter, he would go through them anyway as he was too curious to drop it.

He skipped the names and only searched for their new ‘god’. It came as a no surprise that everything he came across so far was dedicated to Handsome Jack.

Katagawa didn’t understand that. Handsome Jack wasn’t anyone special and the amount of attention he would get was baffling. He came out of nowhere and led the company until he had been killed. He had been a delusional old man playing pretend that he was a hero. 

What was there to admire? What guaranteed him such blind devotion of his underlings? 

He had heard stories of Handsome Jack, which painted a picture no better than those of bandits on Pandora. His way of killing had been primitive at best, no imagination whatsoever. Air locking only caused space to become full of Hyperion trash.

And his moniker was laughable at best. There was nothing handsome in a man wearing a mask looking exactly like his younger self.

He nearly closed the ECHO with annoyance, feeling betrayed that there was no interesting development and his sister had lied, when something caught his eye.

At the very bottom of the list, between one big entry and another, there was something.

_Children of Helios_  
_Location: Pandoran desert, near Helios crash side_  
_Memebrs: Ex-Hyperion workers_  
_Leader: An Ex-Hyperion worker, no name mentioned_  
_Worshipping: Rhys_  
_Number of individuals: Unknown_

Katagawa blinked a couple of times. This was the only entry on the list without mentioning Handsome Jack.

He read it again and again, not believing what he saw. 

So it was the truth and his useless sister wasn’t lying. He leaned back and stared at the text without seeing it.

It wasn’t saying much but it was still a proof that…

How did you even pronounce that?

He sighed and put the ECHO down slowly on his desk.

No matter.

He now had a name and the next thing he needed was a face.

And after thoughtful research he would decide whenever he would kill this _Reese_ or not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's decided. You all get a virtual hug d=(´▽｀)=b
> 
> I appreciate all comments, kudos and bookmarks!
> 
> I've made it! Especially for you all I did everything in my power to finish this bad boy *slaps the imaginary roof of the word document* before national holiday so you won't have to wait for another two weeks or so ;) <s>and now i don't have an excuse to not study for my exams </s>

The next day he was yet again hiding from prying eyes. He had reread the whole list but decided against rushing with his decision. There was a lot he had to consider so he hadn’t slept much during the night.

Just enough so nobody would get suspicious about the dark circles under his eyes.

_I want more information about those Children of Helios and this Rhys person._

He sent to his spies, while hiding in another spot without cameras watching his every move.

_How would you like to receive your information?_

He thought about it before. He decided against standard two weeks timeline. Katagawa wanted the information as soon as they got anything interesting. He didn’t want anything worthless just because there was a deadline. He didn’t want to waste his time or opportunities for checking something not ground breaking.

_As soon as you get anything significant I want it send to me immediately._

He typed it quickly and sent it.

_Understood. _

He got his answer in standard two minutes and then closed his ECHO and hid it in his slack’s pocket. He walked out of his hiding place and turned towards the Advertisement and Propaganda department. He didn’t make it really far before he felt a hand on his right shoulder.

‘’There you are! I was looking for you all over the place!’’

He turned around to face his sister. Naoko stood here while trying to catch her breath after she had been running after him from somewhere.

‘’What for?’’

He said with a fake surprise in his voice while inside he hoped that his dear old daddy didn’t have a bright idea for another dinner.

‘’Oh…well I-I was thinking about our relationship’’

She said after catching her breath. She straightened up and clasped her hands before fidgeting with them nervously.

‘’Why would you think about that, sister?’’

He really didn’t want to know what goes around her head. He knew that it wouldn’t be anything interesting or worthwhile for him. Unfortunately, he also knew that Naoko was stubborn and she wouldn’t live anything be if she got any idea stuck in her empty head.

‘’We _are_ family’’

She looked at him with indent as if she wanted to communicate to him something more, something much deeper than this statement. Katagawa didn’t know what, but he knew that this sentence was untrue as they came. 

They were never a family, not in traditional sense. There was no platonic love or familial bond between any of them. 

When he had been younger, he had sought more information to understand the situation he was in. His research had led him toward older text from this _Earth_ which portrayed lives of various monarchs. Those books described those who had been ruling with the consent of their lesser but also the others who had never accepted ‘no’ as an answer. And rulers who had been ruling with an iron fist had been the ones that reminded him of his own family.

Katagawa Sr. – the monarch – and the tools of spreading his influence in the world – his children.

He was brought back from his thought with a grunt from Naoko. She looked at him, waiting for an answer.

‘’Yes, we are and I never said that we aren’t’’

He answered after a second and smiled at her with a practiced smile.

‘’But it sure doesn’t feel like it’’

Some steel entered her voice and her eyes shined with determination.

‘’What do you mean? We have family dinners where we discus different topic and you gossip with Yuko all the time’’

He decided to play dumb; maybe she would stop this nonsense. There were too old to build up something between them; there was nothing to build up on when their childhoods had been spent in separation. There was no foundation for a familial bond because Katagawa refused to put much trust on something as insignificant as some DNA sequence.

‘’That’s why!’’

‘’I don’t understand, what do you mean?’’

She was frustrated, so if it went anything like before then she would leave in next two minutes.

‘’You are the one who is always apart from us. You are always creating a distance between your siblings and yourself!’’

‘’You are imagining things, sister. I’ve always been like that and I cannot do anything with my introverted tendencies’’

‘’Please don’t lie to me. I’ve only recently realized what you feel every day’’

She looked down and bit her lip.

‘’And what is it?’’

He really wanted this out of his way.

‘’Loneliness. I’m not going to say that-that I came up with it because I-I was umm… quite emphatic?’’ She scratched her neck ‘’Yuko and I have a fight and I don’t talk with others. I even do that less than with you and… and during that time I’ve gotten to see the world with your eyes’’

‘’Really?’’

He tried hard to regain the disbelief from entering his voice. Her gall… She really though that she could see the world as he did? A laughable idea. No wonder she was the one who got it. There was nobody who saw the world as he did. 

‘’Yes! Every sibling pair up with another and there is you - without anyone’’ She looked him in the eyes ‘’I admit that I tried but not hard enough so that’s why I will now!’’

‘’Oh?’’

He was surprised but he didn’t know where this feeling was coming from. Why now? Yuko and Naoko had fought before and that wasn’t anything new. Never before had Naoko ever wanted to help him with this ‘loneliness’ as she claimed to do now. Katagawa couldn’t help but feel some paranoia crawling its way into his head. 

‘’So maybe… let’s sit down here’’

She pointed out to the nearest bench and then grabbed his arm. He let himself be lead for now.

‘’What now?’’

They walked towards it and sat down. He wanted to know what did Naoko wanted from him. There was some deeper meaning, a deeper scheme otherwise it didn’t much suit her character at all. 

‘’We will talk about something’’

She looked at him eagerly, like a bandit waiting for their new gun or a new chance to get some skin pizza.

‘’And what would that be?’’

He stared at her with a mask of polite interest on his face while inside he didn’t feel much outside of nagging suspicion.

‘’Is there anything you want to talk about with your big sister?’’

Did his father figured out what happened to VP of Advertisement and Propaganda? That was the reason why he sent her of all siblings to drag out the truth? He wouldn’t confess anything. He didn’t care how many pleasant conversations they had - which meant zero.

If he wanted an admission of a crime then his dear old father would have to drag it out of him with brute force.  
Involuntarily he felt his muscles tensing and his body slowly kicking into fight or flight mode.

‘’No particularly’’ 

He said as calmly as he was able to.

‘’Are you sure?’’

She looked at him, waiting for a different answer. Katagawa was starring at her with a blank expression on his face. He curled his fist that was out of sight and dug his nails into the palm.

‘’Of course’’

The silence felt like a psychical weight pressing him towards the ground, toying with his nerves and making his palms sweet unpleasantly so. 

Naoko looked deeply into his eyes which were quite different to his own. Like a warm chocolate or if you asked Katagawa they reminded him of mud. A lot of people had mentioned that Naoko looked like their mother but he wouldn’t know. He never met the woman. He liked to think he had nothing in common with her because there was no desirable trait from someone who had chosen an easy way out of their existence.

‘’Oh…hmmmm…I know! I’ve heard your very first ad!’’

She said suddenly.

‘’That’s nice. I didn’t know they’ve already put it out there’’

It was a lie; he knew perfectly well when it would air. Katagawa wanted to follow the progress of his brain child in the world and as far as he knew it did very well, much better than Maliwan’s previous attempts at advertising.

‘’It’s really nice and catchy! I loved the bit with…with painting and corpses?’’

She sounded unsure but her face was saved by the nearby radio.

Maliwan. Mix the elements together to discover your favorite lethal combination. Fire. Ice. Corrosive. Shock. Use the Maliwan palette to paint your victory on the corpses of your enemies. Death and delight. Maliwan

‘’Yeah… this one! Really nice…’’

Silence stretched yet again, proving Katagawa that they indeed had nothing in common and their conversation felt like something forced upon them by cruel gods. He relaxed a little bit.

‘’Sooo…Do you like anyone?’’

‘’You mean platonically or romantically?’’

‘’Both?’’

‘’Then no’’

‘’Really?’’

She hadn’t even realized the full meaning of what he said and how much it involved her. It was like talking to a void or a vegetable – no recollation of what was said and no brain cells to dive deeper than just a surface level.

‘’Why is it so hard to believe?’’

‘’When I was your age I was quite curious about relationships and such’’

‘’Fascinating’’

It wasn’t really. He knew all about people his age and younger getting into relationships. He didn’t care much about it. It might be something common or whatever but common people didn’t achieve anything worthwhile. All the people remembered in the history were the ones who had been extraordinary in some way.

‘’There is this girl in accounting who stares at you a lot’’

She smiled at him mischievously.

‘’And what do you want me to do about it?’’

‘’Maybe ask her on a date?’’

‘’Why should I do that?’’

‘’Because there is a chance you may hit it off?’’

‘’I don’t have time for relationships’’

This excuse usually got people of his back and he hoped that it would do it this time but with his annoying sister.

‘’Then when would you do all of that? You are not even eighteen and you behave like a forty year old’’

‘’Maybe I just don’t want to be in a relationship’’

‘’Why would you say that? Relationships are amazing! You can be with a person you love, you spend time with somebody who understands you without words…’’

No one could understand him without words and thinking so would be foolish on so many levels. And even if there was a possibility of a like-minded person out there then he didn’t think he would be happy. There was a possibility they might be a foe and so it would make his life harder.

He looked at the time, feeling that this excuse would be good enough.

‘’Maybe I do and maybe I don’t but what I know is that our lunch break is over’’

He started getting up but before he could do so Naoko grabbed his left hand in hers.

‘’Before you go! Please consider what I said about sticking together! I really don’t want you to be a loner when there is no need’’

They looked at each other. After a minute he straightened up and fixed his suit.

‘’I’ll consider it’’

He said and then turned around; knowing perfectly well that what he said was a lie.

* * *

He arrived at the metal door leading to new VP of Advertisement and Propaganda. He saw the new nameplate with a name on it - Lynne Tracz. Strange surname, no wonder she never told him that.

He opened the door and waltzed in, taking in the office. The whole room was the size of their dining room with a window at the back and the metal desk in the middle. Walls were covered in various propaganda materials and ads. The only comfortable piece of furniture was a black, leather chair on which Lynne was sitting.

‘’Oh hello my youngling!’’

She turned around in her chair and smiled broadly at him.

‘’Hello Lynne’’

He greeted her back while walking towards the center of the room.

‘’The ad you came up with? Delightful. I’ve got reports about the increase of sales on Pandora’’

She leaned back nonchalantly, smirking and looking at him with half-lidded eyes.

She didn’t have to tell him that, he checked it already.

‘’I’m glad it was successful then.’’

He sat down in the chair, made of some dark material, opposite hers without waiting for permission. He saw her eye twitch at his gesture but he pretended he didn’t see anything amiss.

‘’Great then! I want you pumping those ads out’’

Falsely cheerful voice was ringing in the mostly empty room.

‘’Will do’’

‘’You know? I’ve forgotten one small detail… I mean why you didn’t tell me your birthday is coming?’’

She bended down to retrieve something from under her desk without looking at him.

‘’I’m not obligated to share this type of information and even if you wanted to know those are included in files’’

‘’Are you planning some kind of celebration?’’

She pulled out a beautifully decorated glass and a bottle of whiskey. She poured herself a shot, then closed the bottle and put in on the desk.

‘’Why? You want to come?’’

He asked feeling irritated with this childish display. She twirled the liquid inside and then brought it towards her lips.

‘’Ohh I want to do more than just come …’’ She whispered behind the rim of the class and took a sip. She made a face after.

‘’What? You can’t find a partner satisfying your sexual needs?’’ He felt irritation slowly building up inside him. If she wanted to say something to him then she should say it. Either you had the balls to be blunt or you didn’t. ‘’They are too old for you?’’ He said, masking the biting remark with a touch of sarcasm.

‘’There is nothing wrong with a young and eager body’’ She looked at Katagawa and bit her lip ‘’But there is nothing more exciting than an older gentleman’’ She put the glass down and then looked at him with a knowing face, implying something he wouldn’t rather never know. 

‘’I never took you as someone stupid’’ The lie want out of his mouth smoothly, like honey. ‘’but I’m concerned for your eyesight’’

‘’And why is that?’’ She raised an eyebrow.

‘’Because the notion that I felt any type of sexual attraction towards you Lynne, of all people, sounds ridiculous’’

‘’I never said that it was you with eager and young body…’’

She scoffed. 

‘’Really? You want to play this game? With me?’’’

He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He looked at her with laser focus after noticing a strange tick of hers. What he meant was that she was glancing down even so often for short periods of time. Anyone who didn’t pay close attention to Lynne wouldn't see it but he wasn’t just anyone.

‘’Or what? You are going to kill me off like our former VP?’’

‘’I don’t know what you are talking about. Have you forgotten? It was an accident’’

‘’Ohh please! Don’t play dumb!’’

She glared at him while curling her hands in slight fists.

‘’I’m not playing anything. It was an accident and I have nothing to do with it’’

He leaned back, playing innocent. So this was what it was… Such predictable way of resolving your problems but Katagawa couldn't say he was surprised.

Silence lasted for a few minutes until she sighed and massage her forehead with her fingertips. 

‘’Okay… be it your way then’’ She turned away from him, playing the part of a very busy employee or a clerk, pretending to look at something on her computer ‘’Bring me some coffee then’’

‘’Excuse me?’’

‘’What? You have problems with hearing now? I said bring me coffee’’

Who did she think she was? If it wasn’t for him she would be still stuck at the bottom. He was the one who elevated her above her station and now she was behaving like he was just another dumb idiot? If this was what she thought then Lynne was sorely mistaken.

‘’I think you have forgotten something’’

He said seriously, no longer taking part in this childish game of cat and mouse.

‘’And what is it?’’

‘’I’m not any regular employee in Maliwan. I’m the son of CEO and you will treat me with respect. I’m not an intern and you are not here to teach me bringing coffee to useless VP’’  
She opened her mouth but Katagawa was faster and interrupted her before she could utter anything.

‘’And before you say anything I want to add that I know what you are doing. You are recording this conversation in hopes of getting some blackmail material but guess what? Me putting you in your rightful place won’t make my dear father bat an eyelash’’

He despised using his father as an argument for his own cause but when the situation requires it of him then he would do it. He knew this type of social climber and reminding them of his connection had always done the trick. Fortunately, only he knew that was a bluff and he had no guarantee that his father wouldn’t get rid of him. The key to survival was to cause not enough trouble to cross the line of too much and not worth living anymore.

‘’You have nothing to say now Lynne? Upset that your little scheme will not make our wonderful CEO notice you?’’

She was just another one who thought ratting out other employees was a way to the top which couldn't be farther from the truth. Some of those executives stayed where they were just because they knew things about others. None of them would let a rat into their den no matter how pretty it was.

Or maybe she wasn’t aiming for an executive. Maybe she was...

‘’By the way why you are not introducing yourself with your surname? Still hoping for something more while writing in the diary your name next to Katagawa like a lovesick teenager?’’ Katagawa said with amusement.

He saw her freeze in shock and a second later a pen she was holding fell down. It bounced of the metal floor and created a loud sound - the only one in the office.

Katagawa’s amusement disappeared as fast as it appeared.

No way she was one of those…

Katagawa was only joking...

‘’How…’’

The disbelief was so big he could imagine it being a physical thing in the room. He didn’t know who was more surprised about this revelation.

He quickly put himself back together; trying to act nonchalantly as if this new piece of knowledge didn’t unsettled him a little bit. He cleared his throat while blinking rapidly.

‘’A shot in the dark. I wasn’t sure but your reaction just validated my concerns’’

Her face transformed into an ugly sneer and her whole body started to tremble form pent up anger.

‘’You…’’

‘’Yes, me. I understand the need of progressing in your life but I won’t let you do that but throwing me under the bus. Especially when I did nothing wrong’’ He tried to recover his composure. It felt like he was a little out of it, like someone watching the conversation between two people from the outsider’s perspective ‘’You think you are so clever when in reality you have no chance of playing on my level… what gave you an idea that you can take Katagawa Sr.?’’

Surely he interpreted it wrongly. 

Surely she only wanted to use affection to overthrow Katagawa Sr. and there was absolutely nothing romantic involved.

‘’I never wanted to take him out…’’

She said quietly while blush was creeping out on her cheeks.

He stared at her with his mouth opened. 

During this many years he had seen people throwing themselves at his father. It wasn’t anything new but every time it had been done with purely either for money or power. Gold diggers and power hungry maniacs were everywhere but Katagawa Sr. never gave them any time of his day. Some people had thought that the reason for his behaviour had been emotional, that he had been mourning his late wife. Katagawa on the other hand thought it was bullshit.

‘’You hoped to become Mrs. Katagawa? Why would you think that, mommy dearest?’’

He asked, full of disbelief. What was this? An alternative universe?

Her whole demeanor changed and now she was glaring at him so viciously that he would be dead in a second if her eyes would have the ability to kill.

‘’Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?!”

Katagawa stood up, put his hands on her desk slowly and bend towards her. He looked at Lynne without saying anything, waiting until he could see some signs of being uncomfortable on her face.

But also he did his best to put his facade back in place so the next thing he was going to say wouldn't come off as something he didn’t intended it to. He didn’t want her to see how much off kilter he felt.

‘’I will not let anybody take away my opportunities and it so happens that the company is my opportunity. I cannot let someone with low qualification just take the wheel’’ Not only what he was saying was a lie but also how he was saying. Katagawa knew that if it would give him an upper hand and control of the company then he would. Then he would simply get rid of them when the time would come and he would become a CEO.

‘’So what are you going to do now?’’

She asked full of defiance as if there was a still ongoing battle when in reality she had lost the war.

‘’Nothing more than is necessary’’ He straightened up and fixed his clothing projecting an image of a controlled individual when in reality he didn’t feel that much in control ‘’I will let you be… there is something that you own me’’

‘’Now you are talking? What happened to not getting recorded?!’’

‘’You won’t use it’’

He smirked and only part of it was an act. Slowly his control was coming back when he could see how much more this whole situation impacted Lynne. Her composure and image was destroyed. She looked like she got older at least five years in this short period of time. His self was feeding off of her miserable mood making him more sure of himself.

‘’Aren’t you too sure about it?’’

She glared at him but after some time the dominant emotion showing on her face was resignation instead of anger. She looked tired.

‘’No. I won’t spell it out for you because I think that you have more than two brain cells and you can figure it out by yourself’’

She looked into space, deep in thought. After a few moments she signed and slumped down in her chair.

‘’Fine… You’ve won. What do you need?’’

‘’Nothing yet. When there will be a situation when I will need your assistance then you’ll know’’

He walked out of the room, feeling more like himself with every second.

He didn’t know what to do with what he had learnt yet. He couldn't understand what desirable was in his father outside of the position. He was a vile human being with emotional capacity of a sponge. Katagawa Sr. was short, stocky built with nearly all of his left hair grey - not something most people would find attractive with purely physical traits in mind.  
His personality wasn't something inviding but rather cold as ice and distant.

It was hard for him to believe but she really sounded as if it was the truth that she desired Katagawa Sr. in that way. He couldn't wrap his head around it.

The only thing he wanted his whole life was to get rid of Katagawa Sr. so a thought that someone would want to spent time with him voluntary was just bizarre. 

He wasn’t paying attention to anything outside of his head, so deep in thought that he actually jumped when he heard an unrecognisable voice calling his name.

‘’Mr. Katagawa Jr.?’’

He turned around, fighting an embarrassed flush that tried to creep on to his cheeks.

‘’Yes?’’

His voice was slightly high pitched and he tried to cover it up with clearing his throat.

‘’Mr. Katagawa Sr. would like to see you during dinner in two days time’’

Great. That was what he needed right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
The ad is taken from the game   



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably sound like a broken record but I'm astonished with the interest this story got. I cannot stress enough how all of your comments, kudos and bookmarks are lovely <3
> 
> I'm sorry for the wait but... My lecturers decided that human beings don't need no sleep or any free time before Christmas.  
Only the weak ones need such mundane things in life ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>   
<s>There is a possibility that there are some mistakes but I didn't want to wait another two or more weeks to read it through and do this as carefully as usual </s>  


Katagawa felt dirty.

For two days he had been thinking about the whole situation with Lynne. He was furious like never before with some outside his family. He was angry not only at her but also at himself – a strange combination of negative emotion with self hatred threw into the mix. He didn’t see anything until by some chance and screwed sense of humor, he had learned something important. It may not be a thing crucial to his whole plan but if it was? Then what? 

Was he going to let himself be taken by a surprise and lose everything? 

Be a clueless idiot like all the people?

He clenched his teeth and glared at his reflection. 

It wasn’t going to happen because from now on he would take into consideration even the most bizarre possibilities.

And yet… 

This strange feeling wasn’t going away.

He wasn’t the most emotional person outside of anger, frustration, hatred and smugness. Those four were like old friends who waited for him with open arms. Everything else was just something he would read from a book or see in others but never in himself. It was foreign and he wasn’t sure he liked that broadening of his horizons so to speak. 

He thought it was disgust. Disgust at how this woman wanted to use him. She had wanted him to fall for her honey trap and then what? The only way his father and her would have met via Katagawa Jr. was if they were in relationship – a relationship which would be serious enough so his father would even consider taking some time off from his busy schedule.

So supposedly they were in relationship like that and then? She would go to his father, hoping he would be happy with his son’s sloppy seconds? It was a laughable idea and quite unrealistic one because Katagawa Sr. could pick and choose his partners.

He hadn’t seen anyone managing to charm their way into his nonexistent heart. Maybe if the other woman was a CEO and they would merge their companies… Hammerlock wasn’t giving up his position for his sister anytime soon so that possibility was nonexistent. 

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

He wasn’t going to think about his father’s sex life even if it didn’t happen.

He liked being all-knowing but there were some things in life which even he didn’t want to know about.

He slapped his cheeks slightly as if he tried to wake up from some deep sleep. Katagawa needed to pull himself back together. This was an important day and he couldn’t screw it up by being distracted with something so stupid.

* * *

He walked out of the room feeling better than when he got inside it a few hours ago but that didn’t mean that disgust disappeared completely, rather he decided to distract himself before the meeting.

He was going around, trying to kill some time before the inevitable happened. He didn’t know what the reason for this meeting was. Was it something connected to the company or him? 

As far as he knew the company was doing great, expanding their market. Their newest product was already a star and Katagawa thought it would become a cash cow in no time.

He didn’t think his father knew about his involvement in the unfortunate accident of the former VP. If it was the case then he wouldn’t probably wait so long. Katagawa Sr. wasn’t the one to deny himself any pleasures in life. 

He wasn’t going to lie, the last time, when he thought that Naoko was trying to vessel out a confession from him, he overreacted a little.

And he knew that his father would be happy to see him fail.

So he would do anything to prevent it from happening.

As he was wandering around he saw people giving him various looks of pity before hurrying in opposite direction. Some employees looked sad and Katagawa noticed that there were a number of people wearing something black today in particular.

He frowned trying to understand what the meaning of such behavior was.

* * *

He opened the wooden door to the dining room and walked inside; he saw an empty room sans Katagawa Sr. It looked even more menacing and intimidating than when there were more people inside. 

‘’I’m glad you are finally on time’’

Katagawa Sr. didn’t turn around to face him as he entered the room but rather he was staring out of the window, observing life forms in their natural habitat.

‘’You expected to see me?’’

He said after realizing that his father wasn’t going to say anything else, content in ignoring his son whom he summoned here. He pushed away the urge to scowl at the back of his father’s head, taking into account that it may be seen in the reflection of the window.

‘’Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t sent for you.’’ 

Katagawa Sr. said after a while and then turned around, gracing him with an unreadable face and cold blue eyes. He was short for a man but stocky with frame as strong as when he had been a young man. He nodded his balding head in the direction of Katagawa’s chair he usually occupies when he had to sit in this room.

‘’Sit down’’

His voice wasn’t betraying any emotions, it wasn’t soft but it was rather strict and controlled.

Katagawa Jr. knew what he could do and what he couldn’t. Right now he couldn’t anger him, they were alone and usually his father became crueler when there were no witnesses but it wasn’t a rule. Nothing would stand in his way when he wanted to humiliate anyone.

‘’We’ll have an important conversation today’’ 

Katagawa Sr. sat down and stared at him with unreadable expression on his face. 

The distance between them was quite huge and it reflected perfectly their closeness to one another. Katagawa Jr. didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse – on one hand, it put more space between them and on the other hand, it felt more like an interview with a person who from the very beginning didn’t want to hire you.

‘’Family is the most important thing in the world. Without it we would have nothing. We are just another cog in the machine called universe.’’ 

He waved his right hand as if he was a conductor of the greatest orchestra – a graceful but economical movement full of suppressed power.

‘’People are like spare parts, they are turned into perfect replacement as soon as they enter universities. They are tailored like a fine piece of garment to replace the used ones and maintain the companies or even better – make them grow into their true potential.’’ 

Katagawa Sr. looked away from him, feeling more interested in tracing the pattern on the wooden doors just behind Katagawa’s back. For anyone his father may appear as still as a statue that was not bothered by anything but for him… He knew that it was incorrect. He was aware that the older man was lost in thought and deciding the future for him.

‘’We all have destiny to fulfill in this world’’

‘’And what is my destiny, sir?’’

He asked feeling a little bit nervous.

‘’This is what I was thinking about for the last month’’ He spreaded some sheets of paper which Katagawa Jr. just noticed were placed on the table. 

‘’You do your tasks on satisfactory level – your recent supervisor said so’’

He felt his mouth twitch at the corner, trying to break his disinterested mask. He straightened a little in his chair, feeling a warm feeling spreading over his body.

Finally! He would learn how far up the ladder was he to gain the top position in the company!

He would be in top 5 for sure with his accomplishments especially when compared to his brothers and sisters.

‘’I’m glad you think so’’

It wasn’t everyday his father gave him something even close to a compliment. He was always critical and never beat around the bush – when there was something he didn’t like he would tell it to your face.

He didn’t remember the last time he was prised for something. 

So this was what it felt like.

No wonder there were so many people thirsting after scraps of prise from their bosses.

‘’There is nothing to be so proud of. I don’t expect of you some average results. Those weekly reports I get about the progress of your studies are not satisfactory’’

Katagawa Sr. squinted his eyes a little and that was enough to show Katagawa just how much his dear old daddy wasn’t amused.

‘’Sir?’’

He gulped, hoping it wasn’t as loud as it seemed for him. 

He felt himself going cold after the warm fire of accomplishment disappeared as fast as it appeared inside of him.

‘’I’ve expected better of you but I now see I was wrong. I’ve put too much faith into your ability to reach and unlock your full potential’’

‘’With all due respect sir-‘’

He wasn’t going to let his father berate him and then kill him. He wasn’t going to die just because Katagawa Sr. had some exaggerated hopes or plans which included him. 

Now the other type of fire spreaded across his body and with every second the flames were fanned with hate and anger.

He did better than most of them and still it was too little?!

‘’Are you interrupting me?’’

‘’No, I’m trying-‘’

Every cell in his body was screaming at him to stop talking but he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to go like a lamb for slaughter all quiet and obedient especially when he knew he was right!

‘’Then stop talking’’ He put his hands on the wooden surface. ‘’The problem is you are only trying and not doing’’

Katagawa boiled inside like an active volcano and he knew that the eruption was going to happen in the next minute or so because there was nothing that would stop him. He was sick and tired and what he wanted right now was to scream everything hurtful and vicious in his father’s face.

Katagawa Sr. starred at his son and after some time he continued.

‘’I’m really disappointed with you’’ 

He felt himself freezing.

It was bad… 

Really bad.

He learned early in life that causing Katagawa Sr. to say those words would mean fate worse than death. He remembered those horror stories his siblings had been whispering about what could possibly happen to his brother. He saw what happened to an employee who dared to disagree with him.

Katagawa was hoping for more humane ending, waiting for a knife slicing through his skin as if it was made of butter, for a bullet tearing through his muscles and hitting some vital organ. He could perfectly visualise himself hitting the floor and painting it with his blood.

He only hoped that the stain he would live behind would not be cleaned fully.

‘’That’s why my decision is like this: you are the last one in the queue for CEO’s position’’

‘’What?’’

He asked full of disbelief and this was the only emotion he had felt before the numbness overtook him.

‘’After going through all of them I’ve reached this conclusion so this is what it is’’

‘’But sir –‘’

‘’I’m not done yet’’ 

He felt the temperature drop down.

‘’My decision won’t change’’ He leaned back in his chair, still staring at Katagawa Jr. with a look of a predator which cornered its prey.

‘’The matter is in your hands – either you accept it or not’’

He knew what it meant, denying his father would result with Katagawa being buried deep underground if they felt particularly generous. He wasn’t keen on dying, even when his life didn’t look like he wanted it to he still liked the fact that he could change it whenever he wanted.

Maybe the change itself wouldn’t be big at the moment but at least it was better than the alternative.

Involuntarily he felt relief slip inside his mind even though the news weren’t good but still better than what he anticipated.

‘’I’m not the bad guy here. For the company I cannot let someone as unskilled and devoid of potential for the future to stand at the top’’

Katagawa was ‘unskilled and devoided of potential’? Was Katagawa Sr. going blind in his old age? His siblings were better than him? With what? Wasting their time and precious oxygen?!

He wanted to laugh. Hysterically. 

His work was the one that made the company better – it was more profitable due to his efforts and brilliant ideas! He was the one who was working tirelessly for years when Yuko was wasting money in some high profile clubs! The only thing Ichigo was doing was prostitutes! 

His ads made more profit when the combined ideas of so called ‘skilled individuals’ were worthless!

‘’Some of us are destinated to greater things but others… they are here for the cannon fodder’’ 

He was the one who discovered serious flaws in the financial system! He even showed them one when he could easily take an advantage of them both and no one would be the wiser when supervisors in the company were dimmer than a broken streetlamp in the middle of the night! 

Cannon fodder?! There was nothing average about him and if Katagawa Sr. couldn’t see it then maybe he would realized his grave mistake when he would stab him with his knife.

Air locking him would be too kind and unimaginative – he was better than the Handsome Corpse himself – he would…

He would…

He knew what he would do.

He knew what would hurt him the most.

He would open the Vault and would rub it in his father’s face!

That bastard hadn’t opened one yet after so many years of being the CEO.

Yes.

He felt himself smirking inside.

And then he would kill him, his sibling and then take over some other companies and… and… 

‘’What’s your decision?’’ 

He felt himself clenching his teeth and curling his hands into fists under the table.

‘’Are you in or out?’’

There was only one answer for that question – it was like asking someone who was dangling at the edge of a cliff if their want some help.

‘’I’m in’’

He looked deeply into his father eyes to catch some emotion but there was nothing. They were like ice – hard and cold – and Katagawa wasn’t warm enough to meld them to a degree when he could catch a glimpse of something humane. Two cold objects in the cold universe couldn’t melt no matter how much they tried.

‘’Go and let the tattoo artist in here’’

The added humiliation of inviting the person who then would brand him…. He felt his blood boil at the whole situation. 

But he won’t let him see it. 

Like all the time, he would hide his displeasure and smile fakely until he could do so with sadistic joy.

He stiffly got up and mechanically went to the door, thinking about the way he would kill that bastard.

* * *

He was laing on his bed with his face showed into the pillow. Katagawa hadn’t bothered even taking his clothes off. He heard a soft sound of received message on his ECHO and then sighed. He grabbed it from the floor and then turned on his back to see the message.

_How are you? _

Before he couldn’t even wonder who send it there was another one.

_Brother I know you are there!_

_I won’t stop until you answer me!_

He scowled. Naoko was exactly the person he wanted to hear from. 

_How did you get this number?_

The reply came immediately. 

_I have my ways ;) _

He threw it away and got up from his bed. He walked towards the mirror in his room and looked at himself – his hair were a little messy from lying with his face pressed into soft pillows; the suit he was wearing was crumbled. He took the jacket off with mechanical movement, minding his new tattoo located at the back of his neck. He pulled of his ice blue tie and then opened the buttons of his shirt just so he could pull away the collar.

He grabbed from his desk a hand mirror he had stolen on his way from the meeting, and turned around so his back was facing away from the bigger mirror. He was adjusting the one in his hand until he could clearly see the back of his neck.

He saw a barcode with MALIWAN0-13 or was it Q? Or O?

He shook his head lightly, trying to focus on something more important.

He was the last one… 13th. In various cultures this number was considered the unlucky one but Katagawa would make it bad for everyone else. They all would underestimate him because no one would believe that an underdog would win but he was determinated. He now knew for sure how many people needed to die before he could be the CEO.

He smirked before he went to retrieve the communicator. He put the mirror he was holding in his left hand on the bed and then sat near it on the bed with the device in his hands. 

He was going through the messages while he decided to lay down.

_Let’s meet._

_I want to spend some time with you!_

_Come onnn… don’t make me beg!_

_I will do it._

_I swear!_

_Brother!_

_Brother dearest!_

_I know you are there!_

_Pleaseee… I’m begging you! _

_There is something I want to talk with you about._

_It’s important._

He closed it off. Even Naoko’s insistent messages were not enough to destroy his good humor. He now knew what he was going to do to rub the salt into an injury and make their final family moment even better. That thought was the only thing in the universe that stopped him from trashing his room in the feat of rage. 

He pushed away all the negatives and focused on positives because otherwise he wouldn’t be where he was right now. It wasn’t the first time that his road to success got more turns along the way which was caused by Katagawa Sr.

There was another soft sound of a received message. Katagawa felt the irritation rise in him even when he was sure that nothing would destroy this one moment of clarity during this day.

He grabbed the ECHO with intention to quite literarily write to Naoko to ‘get lost’ but then saw something he didn’t expect.

_Do you want to open the file?_  
_Yes_  
_No_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took longer than I expected... The mystery of brain when you actually get to write something you wanted for some time, but your brain is like: nope.  
I hope that the wait was worth it and as always - I adore and appreciate all of the feedback <3

He stared at the message, feeling his irritation disappear slowly. Katagawa was smirking when he selected the one and only valid option which was, of course, yes. 

He opened the file and the very first thing he saw was a picture.

There was a male with slicked back brown hair, a little longer than his own. He had heterochromia; his right eye was brown and the other blue. His skin was rather pale, probably due to living on Helios all the time. He had high cheek bones…

He looked like…

He looked like a…

Hyperion stooge.

He nearly rolled his eyes, berating himself because what was he really expecting?

He went through the other data that was decoded and sent to him.

_ Age: 27 _

To be honest, he had expected someone older – maybe not senile – but at least in their forties? 

Allegedly he killed all those people that had been in this ugly space station. That means he had to be someone high in the hierarchy, right? So the question was how high. Was he an Executive? A head of some department? 

He thinned his lips in annoyance, scanning the information – it wasn’t as if there was a lot to look through – and then he had found what he was searching for.

_ Newest Position: Assistant Vice Janitor _

A janitor… no. An Assistant Vice Janitor.

He blinked and starred at it without seeing it. He shook his head and looked again at this line of text, not believing his eyes. Unfortunately, it didn’t change at all and what he had seen was what it was.

He quickly scrolled up, feeling angry. He clenched his teeth and glared at his ceiling. 

So all this time and resources was wasted so he could learn that this mysterious Rhys person was a fucking janitor?!

He threw away his ECHO and watched it as it was flying through the room and then he heard it hit the opposite wall.

So all this time, he was suspicious that this guy would be some kind of competition when in reality he turned out to be just another fool.  
Suddenly he giggled hysterically.

He wasted all his resources on this pathetic waste of space… He couldn’t get over the fact that he might had been worried over nothing – what anyone would expect from Hyperion cannon fodder. The only real force behind this company had been long gone for some time and what was now left behind was a bunch of babies. 

He silenced himself in case that someone was outside his door eavesdropping, but he was still shaking from laughter at the absurdity of the whole situation.

So all it had taken to destroy ‘H’ shaped abomination in space was one janitor. The universe sure knew how to crack the most hilarious jokes. Rhys probably had stuck his mop somewhere it didn’t belong and the whole thing just blown up. He snickered.

He couldn’t believe that anyone would still felt threatened by Hyperion in any way. Those guys were just ridiculous as much as those maniacs wearing Handsome Jack’s face on their faces.

Probably one of those freaks was the head of this whole mess.

He shuddered at the thought of future dealing with one of those clowns when he would become CEO.

After some time he stopped to wipe away the tears of laughter and trying to catch his breath. When that too was under his control, he got up and came over to retrieve his possession which he just carelessly threw in anger.

He grabbed it and inspected it carefully, checking if there were any marks or cracks in its surface. Katagawa was glad when he found none and then turned around to once again lie on his bed.

He felt as if this whole thing was just one giant joke and well, he decided to make the most of it.

This poor Hyperion trash was promoted to this position… so what had he been doing before? If cleaning toilets was an improvement…

_ Past Position: Middle Manager _

He blinked rapidly and frowned. How did you get to change your position from that to some basic cleaner? Didn’t that annoying devil-made metal containers called clap traps or something else, clean? Didn’t demotion only happen when someone had an unfortunate accident resulting in their death?

He scrutinized the picture again, searching frantically for more details that would explain those unexpected circumstances. He nearly gave up when something catch his eye – it was something round and made of some metal. Its placement was odd.

He knew that all Hyperion’s employees had air for brains but to drill some hole in the skull just to make it true was too much even for him.

It reminded him of the ECHO eyes he had heard of, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe he should check it with the head of R&D or someone else - just to satisfy his curiosity, because Rhys was a disappointment.

He should have known that.

He sighed and opened the new text message to his head of this whole operation of gathering information.

_ I have what I wanted. Stop searching for more. _

It didn’t take long before he saw the answer.

_ Some information is in the process of decoding, would you like to see those? _

He frowned. He was doubtful that it would change his mind when he already got what was the most important. He didn’t need anything else when what was presented to him had painted such pathetic picture.

_ No. _

_ Understood. _

He sighed in disappointment yet again. It wasn’t how he wanted this to go but should had he been already used to those? 

Nevermind.

Now, he would focus on the other objective he set for himself.

He smirked just before he started typing another message.

_ I want information about the vaults. _

* * *

‘’Katagawa!’’

He closed his eyes in despair and sighed quietly, preparing for the inevitable. There was only one thought going inside his head which could be summarized to ‘not again’. He reassumed walking, foolishly hoping that just behind this corner he would lose this menace that was bugging him since yesterday. 

‘’Wait for me!’’

He marched faster while pretending that he didn’t hear her obnoxious yelling. 

‘’Brother!’’

Unfortunately, she did catch up with him. He couldn’t start running away because nothing screamed more ‘suspicious’ than that.

‘’Hi! Why didn’t you wait for me? I was yelling your name for two minutes!’’

He turned around and looked at her full of confusion, pretending to be more fatuous than he was usually.

‘’I thought you meant the other Katagawa’’

Naoko gave him a meaningful look and then stared at him as if he just grown a second head.

‘’There is only you and me… ‘’

He blinked slowly as if he just realized this quite obvious situation. It wasn’t so far from the truth to be honest; everybody in their family could go around and be a Katagawa.

‘’Now I know’’

He looked pointedly around and shrug his shoulders while smiling at her innocently.

‘’Yeah… Well…’’

She scratched her head and grinned dumbly at him. The silence was awkward.

‘’Do you need something?’’

He put his hands behind his back, subconsciously mirroring her pose, and then stared at her with an air of expectation.

Why didn’t people just get to the point? Why did every conversation have to be like pulling teeth? The world would be a better place if people would just get to the point faster, without unnecessary dragging out the conversations.

He could imagine the world when he would already be at R&D department, asking the current head about that ECHO eye he had seen in the file.

‘’Not really! I was texting you but you didn’t answer me. That’s rude, brother’’

She scowled at him, pretending to be angry. He knew she wasn’t angry. She was just annoying.

‘’I haven’t seen it’’

He deadpanned, implying quite subtly, if he could say so himself, that this was the obvious answer to her bugging question.

‘’How so? You always check this ECHO’’

She crossed her hands on her chest and raised an eyebrow, making it quite obvious she didn’t believe what he was saying. 

He felt himself freezing for a second. He didn’t expect her to realize that he had more than one ECHO device… He had made sure that they looked the same and sounded the same outside of this one contact. The one he carried on his person all the time was the one he used to contact his spies and the other was for ghosting other pests such as his sister.

‘’How would you know? We don’t talk or hang out at all’’

He scrutinized her carefully, knowing perfectly well that he needed to know how his useless sister figured it out. Or maybe she was bluffing.

‘’So maybe I exaggerated but I’ve seen you two times and that’s like a whole year quota’’

She waved her hand as if she wanted to physically bat the words away.

‘’And now? What is this then?’’

He asked suspiciously. 

Katagawa wasn’t a charity case as opposite to what was Naoko thinking. He didn’t need some pity meeting to let her conscience rest. If she felt guilty whatsoever then her time for action had long passed and now when he was a grown up, he didn’t need her or anyone in particular to fight his loneliness. There was also nothing to fight.

The other reason for that was that he liked what he had… more or less. He had been free to do as he pleased in his free time and now he wasn’t, and Katagawa knew that he wasn’t happy about this new development.

‘’A new start!’’

All the talking about new start had always ended with the same conclusion – nothing had changed at all. He had heard such declarations his whole life and nothing good had ever came out off it. Supervisors liked to bullshit they way through with grand plans and visions but then it all turned into dust.

‘’Excuse me I need to go’’

He really wanted to catch the head of R&D. He was quite curious what cybernetics could do because he himself, even though he wasn’t an idiot, wasn’t knowledgeable about the subject. The abilities of those enchantments could be quite useful in the future.

But before he could make plans he needed the expert’s opinion.

‘’Wait! There was something really important I wanted to tell you!’’

She stepped before him; her arms were still hidden behind her.

‘’And what it is?’’

He asked politely, keeping at bay irritation. He didn’t know how she could do that, she was capable of waking in him only two emotional states which were annoyance and indifference. More often than not he was quite happy with the latter but now, more frequently it was the first one.

Her delusional, put self-upon herself mission, was getting on his nerves and the idea of simply killing her off was getting more appealing by the minute.

‘’Happy birthday!’’

She pulled from behind her something small which exploded and made the surroundings covered with small, paper squares. Some of the glittering papers were flying in the air and one in particular landed on his nose.

He froze and blinked rapidly.

‘’What…?’’

Naoko was grinning and her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

‘’You thought I’ve forgotten about it?’’

She winked and reached towards his face.

‘’I…’’

He flinched a little, causing the paper to fall down and join its brethren.

‘’Wow! I’ve made you speechless! That’s new!’’

She carried on as if nothing happened.

‘’Yes’’

He straightened his suit and cleared his throat. 

‘’Anyway… I’m really happy you’re finally 18! An official adult.’’

She smiled at him softly and put her hands on his shoulders, wrinkling the jacket he just straightened. 

‘’That’s is certainly the truth’’

‘’So I got this for you!’’

She pulled out some wooden animal. It wasn’t bigger than his palm; it had whiskers made of some other material and features painted on it.

‘’It’s a squirrel!’’

He stared at it without seeing it; Katagawa was deep in thought. He simply couldn’t understand what it all was.

It wasn’t something that was done – giving presents was unheard for especially your rivals… unless it caused some type of painful death.

‘’I…see.’’

He took it gingerly from her and looked at the squirrel suspiciously. Who knew what was in that?

‘’You are not excited?’’

‘’I’m simply… overjoyed’’

He said sarcastically while scrutinizing his… gift. He was wondering what could be possibly inside this? Maybe it was a grenade that would explode and kill him faster or maybe there was some poisonous gas that would do the same job but slowly.

‘’They really remind me of you actually! They are quite fast and agile, and quite intelligent. It’s a shame they only remember like three days in the past… kind of like you’’

‘’Pardon?’’

He finally looked at Naoko. She was standing there, looking up at him and fidgeting with her hands.

‘’How could you forget about your own birthday?’’

She asked full of disbelief. Katagawa couldn’t understand her reaction; it wasn’t that big of a deal. Birthdays came and went, and nothing changed but some number in your documents. It just wasn’t an occasion he would like to celebrate. Not since it always brought rather somber feeling all around. 

‘’It was a busy day’’

‘’I know! So what did you get?’’

‘’Nothing’’

What possibly he could get? Nobody who lived here was a big fan of gifts especially when they didn’t make your social position advance in a short time.

When he had been younger, he remembered that a lot of people would have gone around and gave him small tokens of platonic affection in hopes of some favourable outlook from his parents. At the beginning he had been quite happy that had had the newest and best toys – the one he had always wanted but hadn’t been allowed to possess. He had been too naïve to recognise what those gestures meant at the time. 

It had taken three years for them to understand that it wasn’t the way to go and in the end they had given up.

‘’You didn’t get a number? But you worked so hard and everybody got one yesterday!’’

‘’Oh… I have one, of course’’

He blinked slowly, trying his best to mask his surprise at the true meaning of her previous question.

‘’Sooo? Which one are you? I bet you are in the top 5 like a workaholic you are’’

She winked and patted him on the shoulder.

‘’I’m mean… I’m 7th so…’’

He saw her expression melting into one of worry. She quickly put her other hand on his forehead as if she was checking his temperature.

‘’Why are you trembling, brother? Are you cold? Are you sick?!’’

But he wasn’t aware of anything other. If it wasn’t for her saying it out loud he wouldn’t even know that he was indeed shaking.

From anger.

So this is how it was, huh.

She was 7th while he was 13th… he couldn’t understand how that was fair. He couldn’t remember her last successful project and here she was. Placed higher than him.

A sudden urge came over him… the idea of strangling her here and now seemed quite appealing right now. He would enjoy squeezing her neck until she turned different shade and her eyes turned dull, perfectly reflecting her as she had been in life.

But he wouldn’t do that.

Not now, not without a plan.

He took a deep and calming breath. He stilled and saw her frantic fussing still too until both of them resembled more the stones that were outside than human beings.

But he wouldn’t let this offence slide. 

He had just the perfect idea and just maybe she would help make his life easier. Why shouldn’t he use the tool the life gave him when he could? 

‘’And were would be fun in just telling everybody my number?’’

He smirked while she looked confused.

‘’Huh?’’

‘’Let’s make it a challenge… ‘’

‘’A challenge?’’

‘’Yes. Let’s keep quite who is where in the hierarchy and then try to win’’

She blinked and then frowned at him.

‘’But that’s stupid. What would stop us from eliminating everybody and take the top?’’

‘’Anyone who takes out the person which was below them loses’’

He answered quickly, fighting the urge to grin at her manically. 

‘’You already know my number so there’s no challenge in that’’

She scoffed.

‘’How so? There’s still 11 other numbers’’

‘’Yeah but you are higher than me and that would mean I have to gun you down and I won’t do that’’

‘’Why?’’

He demanded. He didn’t believe her weak excuse. She was just too afraid of doing it; she didn’t have the goods to do it. Naoko simply lacked too like in any other. She would probably be scared and panicked if she ever saw a dead body. He nearly chucked at the image of her doing it herself.

‘’Because I want us to be the family we never had, isn’t it obvious?’’

‘’Of course’’

He couldn’t contain his sarcasm.

‘’You still don’t believe me’’

She glared at him and crossed her arms on her chest.

‘’Why would you think that? You made it quite clear the first ten thousand times’’

‘’Clearly not if this is your attitude’’

She actually sounded angry now.

His temper flared alongside hers.

‘’What is that supposed to mean?’’

‘’Exactly what I said! You always try to find the hidden meaning behind the most altruistic of moves!’’

‘’Everybody would be a little suspicious about someone’s interest in them just before the ranking’’

He spat at her and because of that she lost her momentum for a second before she regained it again and came closer.

‘’Well then… Get it into your thick head’’

She poked his chest harshly.

‘’If I wanted to kill you I would probably hire someone and give them a gun with your name on it! I wouldn’t bother with some sick and twisted games!’’ 

She ended up yelling and then she turned around and stormed away from him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this year? I hope you are all alright!
> 
> It's more dialogue heavy, writing block is really no fun.

This was the first time he was left behind, gaping like a fish after his sister. 

Who did she think she was?

Katagawa scoffed and turned around sharply, moving away from whatever that was.

She wasn’t someone who could threaten him and then walk away as if nothing happened. Such sudden interest was suspicious and gift giving wasn’t a thing between any of them. Naoko herself wasn’t keen on interacting with him so much before this weird fight with the other one.

Maybe they were trying to trick him and then had a laugh at him expense, giggling between each other how little Katagawa fell over himself for the barest scraps of positive attention.

If so… he wasn’t going to be the one that could be laugh at.

He was furious. Why everything that unpleasantly unexpected had had to happen during his birthdays? Or near enough that particular day. Couldn’t he for once get something nice like unexpected news that his father choked and died in a painful way? Or that he became CEO of Maliwan and as he was on the stage getting his applause, he could clearly see crestfallen look on his siblings’ faces? Even winning a few bucks would be better even though he wasn’t poor by any stretch of imagination.

Katagawa was marching towards R&D department when he saw a garbage can standing nearby. He debated with himself whether or not he should take this small detour, risking a chance to meet another pest on his way. On one hand it would be troublesome to talk with someone when he would like to terminate everybody but on the other there was a wooden thing in his fist.

It wouldn’t be good for his first impression to arrive with something like that when he wanted to talk about a scientific issue.

He quickly turned towards the bin and dumped his trash inside. He heard a dull sound and went on his way as it was supposed to be from the very beginning of this day.

Fortunately he didn’t see anyone, as it was he was already pissed off and if there was anyone in his way right now, he would stab them with the knife he always have in his sleeve. 

He saw normal, metal door with a handle. That small detail made him smirk a little bit.

Without further adieu, he bargained inside the room, letting the door hit the wall with a loud bang.

‘’Good afternoon?’’

He asked, realizing that it was uncharacteristically quiet. No one was there. No lights, no sighs of human beings or otherwise. He turned around but it was no use – he couldn’t see anything in here. The only source of light was coming from the hallway and it wasn’t enough to illuminate the whole room.

‘’Hello?’’

A crash somewhere alerted him to the presence of someone else in the room. His hand slowly inched towards another, searching for a hard object inside his sleeve.

He felt himself freeze suddenly.

He didn’t take his knife with him.

How stupid of him!

He was so occupied with this Hyperion trash that he didn’t do the most important thing before going out!

Suddenly he felt a presence behind him.

‘’Good afternoon Mr. Katagawa Junior’’

He turned towards the voice. Katagawa was fully prepared to use his fists to defend himself if necessarily but before he could even do that the light were turned on and the only thing he could see was white.

He raised his hand to shield his eyes a little and blinked some to get use to the brightness. It took him some time to focus and see the person responsible for this assault on his sight.

It was a man with shoulder length, purple-ish hair and dark eyes with big bags underneath them. His skin was so white it was nearly translucent, definitely sick looking probably due to spending so much time indoors. He was tall and nearly unnaturally thin like a twig ready to snap in half with a slightest breeze. He couldn’t guess his age and it wasn’t mentioned in the files.

‘’Good afternoon. Are you the Head of R&D?’’

His voice sounded normal and business-like and that made him a little relieved because he didn’t want this man to know how little he was prepared for the situation that could have happened.

‘’Yes, indeed.’’

His eyes were glazed over but his voice was strong and present.

‘’Good, I wanted to discus something with you’’

‘’Then let’s go’’

A voice from behind. 

Another person was behind him.

He looked over his shoulder, feigning disinterest. 

‘’And who are you?’’

He asked the woman behind him. She was as tall as the man but her hair was bright pink and short. Her eyes were the brightest colour he had ever seen and they contrasted nicely with her deeply dark skin tone.

‘’The Head of R&D’’

She held her hand for a handshake which he granted her after a second of consideration.

He looked at them when both of them stood together, shoulder to shoulder.

Katagawa realized that the man and the woman were both the same high and had the same prominent cheekbones. They were less pronounced on the woman due to her having more meat on her body than that scarecrow of a human.

He also noticed they were wearing matching standard R&D uniforms consisting of white lab coats with Maliwan logo at the front. That coat covered like 80% of their bodies, leaving little room for self expression that was deemed unnecessarily in the R&D environment.

‘’We both are’’

They said in unison. Their voiced fitted together perfectly, creating a new one somewhere in the middle, between the woman’s higher and man’s lower volume.

‘’That’s… great’’

He felt less and less happy with these people even thought he was already displeased with the human race at this point.

‘’It’s better to have two heads than one’’

The woman sounded cheerful, she put her arm on the man’s shoulder.

‘’More brainpower’’

The man spoke flatly and emotionless, visibly he still looked like a slight micro waved road kill.

‘’Two times the intelligence’’ 

The woman pulled out a rose from somewhere and put it in her mouth while winking at him.

He fought an urge to sigh in frustration. Why couldn’t he meet another normal person today? He would rather deal with a cliché scientist than this…

‘’It’s incredible, truly but I’m afraid that I didn’t catch your names’’

He deadpanned.

He started looking around the room while waiting for the replay.

The room itself was quite big and functionally furnished but he couldn’t say anything else for it because it was covered all over with papers.

‘’Really? You don’t know the geniuses of this age?’’

Who even use paper anymore?

‘’The big brains of this era?’’

He faced them again and blinked slowly. So there was one cliché scientist behavior – big ego. That was good; he knew how to play the long game with those types of people.

‘’I’m ashamed to say that I do not’’

He smiled fakely, pretending that he was indeed listening to their chatter.

‘’Don’t be ashamed… not everybody can comprehend our brilliance!’’

She came towards him, her eyes sparkling like an ocean in the sun and then squeezed his shoulder. He tensed a little, body ready to get rid of this unwanted contact when she stalked away as if nothing happened.

‘’We are two shining stars in the scientific field!’’

The man was still standing where he was before but his intonation went slightly up, probably indicating he was excited but it was hard to tell otherwise. Katagawa wasn’t even sure  
if the guy blinked since he arrived here.

‘’Our expertise is in robotics’’

The woman’s voice sounded from another part of the room, slightly muffed by the fact that she was inside a drawer with only her legs out.

‘’Artificial intelligence’’ The man continued.

‘’Coding’’ The woman chirped in.

‘’Mad Moxxi’’

‘’Mad Moxxi?’’

He looked in disbelief at the man, not expecting this to come out of his mouth.

‘’Mad Moxxi! She is the most beautiful-‘’

Suddenly he sounded more alive which was a slight improvement from that dead fish tone from before. His face even twitched a little into something that was meant to look like a smile which was slightly disturbing. He never would have thought that face movement would look unnatural on anyone but here he was.

‘’Stop talking about her!’’

The woman suddenly ran towards the man and tackled him, making both of them fall on the ground.

‘’Hmmhpmh’’

He gave up on learning their names. He could see that it would be pointless. He decided that going straight to the point would be more successful than beating around the bush with those two.

‘’Are you by any chance interested in cybernetics?’’

‘’Cybernetics?’’

‘’Interested in?’’

Both heads appeared from behind the counter and then they looked at each other.

‘’Of course! What do you want to know?’’ The man asked, coming back to normal.

‘’Everything you can tell me’’

He hoped it wouldn’t take another few minutes to learn absolutely nothing.

‘’Ohh! That’s a lo-o-ot’’

The woman tapped her bottom lip with her index finger, looking thoughtful. After a minute she continued.

‘’I applaud your… ambition but you’ll never comprehend this whole incredibly complicated and complex subject which is cybernetics’’

He gridded his teeth while also holding his tongue from lashing out at her. He hated when people though he was some stupid buffoon. There had been times when he would do that for his benefit but now wasn’t the time. He was already put down by his father; he didn’t need some discount scientists doing the same.

‘’I’ll try’’

His knowledge about the subject wasn’t that good but the reason for that was simple. He just wasn’t interested with tinkering over some machines – they were predictable. For Katagawa there was no better challenge than a spar of wits with another person.

Of course not many were on his level but still.

‘’Okie dokie’’

They turned around and led him towards another room which was an office. 

It in itself wasn’t that great and it was even messier than the previous one. Metal parts were lying around with no other purpose than to clutter the space even more.

Pink head showed the papers and various object from the desk that had projector installed in it.

‘’Cybernetics are quite tricky’’

‘’It really depends what part you want to change’’

They looked at him, brandishing a saw in his face. He didn’t even wanted to know where they got it. 

‘’So which one are we going to cut off today?’’

They asked together. There was a crazy glint in their eyes, showing off the bloodlust hidden inside them under a veil of scientific curiosity. They were probably the ones that  
would take great pleasure in dissecting animals in the most painful way possible.

‘’None, I’m merely curious on theoretical level’’

‘’Oh…’’

They were visibly disappointed and the bloodlust disappeared as soon as it appeared.

‘’The easiest are arms and legs…’’

The man started talking and the woman added more, they were finishing each other sentences.

‘’It really depends whether or not you want something functional or just an appendage’’

‘’Something that’s just attached to your body, projecting an image that you are whole and human…’’

‘’At least from a distance’’

The image appeared of a man wearing clunky metal in place of his arm. It didn’t look very comfortable or aesthetically pleasing.

‘’You can do that in any garage with a mechanic who has like… half of the brain left after being critically shot with a-‘’

‘’I get the point’’ 

He stopped the woman before she would go into a monologue.

‘’Well…’’

‘’Anyway’’ The man said after a while and then changed the imagine to another ‘’There are also more functional prosthesis’’

‘’You can move your arms and legs at will, without dragging an extra weight just for aesthetics’’

‘’What about those? Are they more complicated?’’

He stared at the arm. It was slick looking, no bigger than the other.

‘’Of course! It’s more complicated design wise’’ 

The woman started this time.

‘’It has to be sturdy to survive everyday life but also flexible enough that you can actually use it as if it was your own arm’’

‘’The hardest part would be actually connecting the cables with your nervous system so that any signal from your brain can be transmitted to your very fingertips’’

So the arm wasn’t as easy as it would seem. He frowned slightly. It would mean that Echo eye would be even worse as it was connected to the brain itself.

‘’And what about Echo eye?’’

He asked absentmindly.

‘’What about it?’’

‘’Can you tell me about it?’’

He asked the woman because she seemed more talkative and energetic.

‘’Of course! It is mostly theoretical musing because the procedure is quite complicated and consequences can be damaging to the brain itself-‘’

She perked up and then started widely gesticulating nearly hitting the other man’s head. 

‘’How damaging?’’

He asked, impatient for an answer.

‘’It depends on the location’’ The man said.

‘’And the extend that needs to be cut off for the circuit-‘’

‘’Some parts of your brain impact your behavior-‘’

‘’Other your speech-‘’

‘’Sight’’

‘’Not many patients survive-‘’

‘’If any’’

‘’So if somebody have it here?’’

Katagawa pointed at the left side of his head.

‘’Oh…well-‘’

‘’We would need to see how much was cut out’’

The woman shrugged and continued.

‘’Do you have pictures or plans? That would be useful’’

‘’Otherwise we cannot say for certain’’

He didn’t have plans for it obviously. Getting hands on the plans for someone else’s cybernetics would be time consuming and he wasn’t that in need of those.

But even if he could he wasn’t sure he would give them to this weird duo. He was sure that his father would learn from Pink Hair and Purple Fish about those and how would he explain that? Hello daddy I was just looking at this random person’s cybernetics plans? It’s not as if he was being criticized for doing anything else than work all the time. He couldn’t bullshit his way from this; it pained him to say that his father knew him to well to fall for such weak lie.

Every time he would need to be punished a little for his transgressions he would have been sent to R&D to help them with whatever. He had hated it as a child and now his dislike of it still clung to him. There was nothing advantageous to gain from this part of the company, no money or connection. 

‘’Can you control it from outside?’’

He should probably think of some story about his sudden interest. How should he sell it? He should have thought of that before! He didn’t know them, how would he be sure they are no snitches that report everyone or everything?

‘’What do you mean?’’

The man asked him, staring at him.

‘’If there was someone who had it and… they wanted to hurt me… Could I somehow take control of their prosthesis?’’

This would be believable… Maybe even encouraged. His father would bother to sniff around even if they would tell him he was asking about it.

‘’Oh’’ 

Purple Fish blinked owlishly.

‘’You could make them choke themselves with their arm! Can you imagine the betrayed look on their face?’’ Pink Hair giggled maniacally.

‘’Hilarious’’ 

He said flatly.

Before he could ask them more there was a loud sound and light flashing erratically.

The pair looked at each other and then said in unison.

‘’We have to go’’

‘’We haven’t finished’’

He protested because he didn’t spend all this time to learn the bare minimum! There was something else he wanted to ask!

‘’We have to do that another time! Big boss is calling us!’’

Of course it was him. He didn’t have to be in the same room to destroy his plans.

‘’If you want to we can continue it another time!’’

Pink Hair grinned at him while Purple Fish just stiffly made his way out the office.

He didn’t want to go through that again.

But he wasn’t the one to give up when the circumstances were bad.

He would meet with them again and then he would know everything about the Echo eye. Who knew what would he need in the future?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are closer and closer to one of the most important points I've included into this story, which is amending Katagawas' relationship (mainly between Naoko and Katagawa) I couldn't really skip it so I hope it isn't too dreadful. The finish of 'Tales from the Borderlands' is just around the corner ;) I'll hope I have enough time and motivation to write some more in advance so when I will be busy writing my diploma paper, you'll get some chapters.  
I changed my computer after like 8 years so I hope I've fixed typos. Getting use to a new keyboard is a horrid experience.

Katagawa went to his office space in which ‘space’ was too generous of a word to describe those meager inches that separated him from his annoying coworkers. To make matters worse, to his right there was a man with a highly pitched voice and the most obnoxious drawl in his words that he had ever heard. Any day when he wasn’t obligated to shadow someone or another that was where he would do various tasks. 

Of course it was great that he had an opportunity to do some learning with an in-depth approach when the occasion like that happened. Unfortunately, there were also days when he had to make use of this cubicle. 

So that was why he marched towards his place, a plastic chair made by Satan himself with no regards towards comfort of your body, and a sturdy desk with a computer on it. He pulled the chair back and sat down, ignoring the others who were immersed in their jobs.

He stared at the blank screen of his monitor.

He sent Purple and Pink an email that he would return for more information. He was curious what advantages those people get from Echo eye or other cybernetics. Maybe he would get one himself if it made life easier.

Or not if any brainless idiot could cause him to choke himself with his hand.

What a pathetic way to die.

When he finally looked at the surface of his desk he noticed one, medium sized package, sitting innocently in the middle. He touched the plastic container cautiously as if it was a bomb he was going to defuse.

When nothing happened, he slowly grabbed it and pulled it up so it was at the level of his eyes. Katagawa turned it in a different direction but he could find anything suspicious aside of the existence of this gift. 

He opened it and peered inside. 

It was an apple pie.

He blinked rapidly in disbelief.

Who would leave it for him? 

He didn’t think that he did something good enough that he would get a treat for it. He didn’t know when the last time that he had an apple pie was.

It looked delicious and smelled even better.

Shame that it was probably poisoned.

He fought an urge to look around and try to find the person that gave it to him. He knew it would be no use; they probably escaped from the scene already.

Then there was a problem of what to do with it. He could throw it into a trashcan but then… it was a perfectly made pie and he didn’t want to waste it.

He slowly turned towards his least favourite worker bee. He saw him bouncing his knee so hard that the whole table was shaking but the guy in his early twenties hadn’t noticed it yet. 

‘’Hey…’’

Black, curly haired head turned towards him with a questioning look on his face.

‘’What?’’

‘’Do you want some pie?’’

He presented the container containing a normally looking dessert to his coworker.

The man peered inside and then looked at him full of confusion as to why he suddenly started to talk to him from his own free will.

‘’Why?’’

‘’I don’t like pie’’

He started at him for a minute and then hesitantly reached his hand for the pastry.

‘’Yeah, sure. Why not’’

He grabbed the container and pulled it towards himself then he turned around so he would be facing his desk.

‘’Do you have some cutlery?’’

‘’No’’

‘’Oww man! I don’t want to dirty anything here’’

Katagawa rolled his eyes when he was sure that no one would see him. Could he just eat it? It was not as if he would be here tomorrow. He stared expectantly at his coworker.

The man finally bit into the pie and moaned loudly.

‘’It’s soo good, thanks!’’

‘’My pleasure’’

Katagawa waited for some hacking noise or other but none were present. The only one that was forthcoming was a quiet and content sigh. 

So maybe the poison is slowly working… shame. He really wanted to see it.

* * *

The next day he went to his workplace. He was slightly curious who would be his neighbour for the next few months. He silently hoped that the person would not be as loud.

So imagine his surprise when he saw the same face at the same place as yesterday. When the slight shock passed he felt disappointment curling inside his stomach.

Before he could even reach his chair, the man yelled jovially out.

‘’Good morning Katagawa Jr!’’

He cringed instantly.

This wasn’t what he wanted.

‘’Good morning’’

‘’I wanted to ask you… where did you get such delicious pie? Just thinking about it makes my mouth water uncontrollably’’

‘’It was a gift’’

‘’Ohh. Do you know someone who does? Maybe the gift giver?’’ He winked at him and grinned.

‘’No idea’’

‘’A secret admirer? That’s so interesting! The girl from accounting perhaps?’’

The man was deep in thought, tapping his fingernail on the surface of the table.

Katagawa ignored him and turned towards his computer screen and turned it on. What greeted him was a big Maliwan logo.

‘’So you don’t want this one? It’s a cheesecake’’

He logged in without taking his eyes from the monitor

‘’Feel free’’

‘’Good! I've already took a bite’’

Then why did he even ask? He wasn’t going to exchange saliva on a cheesecake with this buffoon.

* * *

He was standing inside the R&D department, yet again. Oh joy, he was so excited to deal with the wonder duo. His life couldn’t look better, even if he tried.

‘’Good morning Katagawa Jr!’’

She skipped inside the office with a dumb grin on her face. It didn’t exactly look fake but it also wasn’t natural. He didn’t know how to explain it but there was something off about them. Something more than just sudden bursts of bloodlust and nearly telepathic communication with the other one.

He knew that siblings could develop their own language, theoretically. As far as he knew, the only things that were needed were proximity and willingness; too bad their family wasn’t filled with any of them. 

‘’Good morning’’

He said after a while, trying to concentrate on here and now.

‘’Today there shouldn’t be any interruptions’’

She winked and then with one sweep of her hand; she threw down from the chair all papers and some mechanical parts.

‘’I hope so because there are some things I wanted to ask you’’

He wanted to sit down on the spare chair but when he looked at it closer, it was covered in some black substance. He grimaced openly, knowing perfectly well that Pinky was busy with cleaning the desk.

‘’Hmm?’’

He would like to know how they find anything in this mess.

‘’What are the advantages? If there are downsides such as high death rate then there are also some positives’’

He crossed his arms on his chest, not caring that he would come across as closed off. If he thought that the last time when he saw the office was messy then now it would only be classified as a chaos personified. He wondered whether they built a gun with a tornado effect or something.

‘’Oh well, you can thinker a little bit with the design, I guess’’

She finally looked at him.

‘’How so?’’

‘’You could install a weapon and then just stab them, or shoot them, or electrocute them-‘’

‘’So you could just smuggle the weapon in and no scan could ever detect it?’’

He perked up a bit.

‘’Hmm… Yeah! That's it’’

‘’That’s it?’’

He blinked slowly. Surely she was joking.

‘’As far as I know but maybe Lin would know more’’

Another one? Why there was a need for so many people to just tell him simple information. When he would be a CEO then the first thing he would do would be throwing those useless meatbags to skags on Pandora for entertainment. 

‘’Who?’’

He clenched his teeth, feeling the blood pressure rising as a result of his anger.

‘’My brother, silly!’’

He sighed and then turned away towards the door.

‘’Oh yes. We’ll see whether or not a second meeting would be necessary’’

He clenched his teeth and stalked away from the room. His lunch break just ended and he didn’t learn anything of import, instead he had to meet yet again with Purple when he wanted to skip this delightful visit. They should just wait until he had any say in the company’s employment – they would be the first people to learn how to hold your breath for an eternity or die.

* * *

‘’Katagawa Jr.!’’ 

Or maybe he would be the first one to go.

He sighed internally, not giving the pest the satisfaction that he could provoke any reaction.

‘’Yes?’’

He put on a pleasant façade; his coworkers were staring at them. Those idiots wait all day to see what kind of pastry he would get from his ‘secret admirer’. 

What a ridiculous notion.

He wasn’t interested in relationships or any abstract notions, such as love and sex. Base animal’s instincts – that was what it was. Katagawa knew he was better than that – so the fact that anyone would be desperate enough for his attention was just funny to him. He wasn’t even curious who that was – if they were desperate enough to play games with someone who didn’t even want to participate in, then that was their problem.

‘’This time it is Sachertorte! You want it?’’

He presented it to Katagawa, the man’s face a strange mix of hope and disappointment.

Why was he hopeful? Was it because if he declined then the vulture would just take it and have a go at a decent sweet? 

He scrutinized him and then he reached his hand towards the container and took it from the man’s hands.

‘’Yes, I want it’’

He didn’t take his eyes away from the black-haired annoyance.

‘’Ohh no… I hoped you would say ‘no’ ‘’

He pouted slightly and stared longingly at Katagawa's gift.

‘’Too bad’’

He said it without a care in the world. He put it on his desk and started working, without closing the top of the box so the scent would tantalise the guy and make him miserable for the hell of it. From the corner of Katagawa’s eye he saw his neighbour stare at the Sachertorte and then the man was grumpily tapping on his computer for the rest of his shift.

When his work ended, he grabbed the box and made his way towards the trashcan and quickly threw it all inside.

* * *

‘’What about the Echoeye?’’

He sat at the edge of the metal table, idly spinning some miraculously found red pen in his left hand.

‘’Huh? The Echoeye? It is tricky’’

Purple looked up from his mailbox and said with a deadpan expression. Today, Katagawa was alone with the other head of the department. He hoped that this conversation would be more insightful than  
the previous ones. 

At this moment he knew that he wouldn’t get it easily. Unfortunately, he realized that eccentric geniuses were pain in the ass and their inability to get straight to the point to avoid wasting time was nonexistent; especially when they were facing an opportunity for gloating or showing off their knowledge.

Or they were just being annoying pricks and take an advantage of the fact that this information wasn’t available to anyone.

‘’The operation is hard and complicated, the consequences unknown until we start you up’’

Purple grabbed a small flame torch and started doing whatever he did.

‘’You already told me about the change in behaviour and so on-‘’

He moved slightly away from the hidden unstable individual Katagawa knew that the man was.

‘’If it’s done wrong, it can fry your brain’’

The man produced a cigarette from somewhere and put it in his mouth, and then he used the flame torch to light it up. He took a deep breath and then exhaled the smoke lazily.

‘’Instant death, huh’’

He stared at the shapes made by the grey smoke. They were irregular, changing direction whether air stirred it or not. As fickle as people. 

‘’Not only that... Even if you could go around and , at first glance, everything would be okay then it is probable that your body decide that it doesn’t like that inorganic part’’

The man put down the torch and leaned back in his chair. It looked more comfortable than whatever was given to the bottom feeders. It wasn’t true leather – nothing that fancy – but the material didn’t look like the cheapest thing you could order on Pandora.

The first thing he knew he would do as a CEO would be ordering a large and comfortable chair.

‘’So what’s the percentage of people who survive this?’’

‘’Who knows… I haven’t met anyone who is alive after it’’

The man took another pull form his cigarette and this time he held the smoke in longer before exhaling it.

Katagawa looked away, deep in thought.

* * *

He saw his desk from afar and the package on it. He scowled lightly and marched towards his cubicle. He realized that something was wrong, meaning it was too quiet. He glanced in the direction of his neighbour, but what greeted him was just an empty chair.

It was unusual. You could say that the man was a good for nothing, stupid low paid worker but he always worked. Even when they had introduced the three day paid leave so they wouldn't die like flies by their desks, because who would have cleared that? Janitors had been protesting and demanding working unions at least until they had permanently changed their workplace to something more… down to earth - until there had been no new workers willing to take the burden of an undertaker. Big brains from Accounting had done the math and that had been it. Additionally, instead of the iron tang of blood in the air you could smell pleasant citrus detergent. He cannot complain it was better when he had to pass by some other more rotable parts in the company.

He blinked, coming out of his thoughts when he hit his desk lightly with his chair.

He grabbed the box and made his way towards the trash bin.

Nobody paid him any attention which was not usual. Many times he had seen people trying to be sneaky and failing. He knew why they were sometimes staring at him. He is the youngest sibling in this sociopathic family tree and Naoko, who is a few years older than him, stopped working here as soon as she was eighteen. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the privilege of getting out of this hellhole. A life repetitive as assembly line production; the same thing over and over until you go crazy. He couldn’t imagine himself living such a life for long. He wanted the recognition of his skills, he wanted to prove every non-believer who scoffed at him that yes, he was the CEO of the best mega corporation in the whole galaxy.

He dumped the box into the trash and turned around.

But before that he would make the most stubborn bastard in the whole wide world look like a fool when Katagawa would be the one to open the vault. He would rub it in his face. He was waiting for some information; he had already sent the request for the investigation. His spies were working rather efficiently so he hoped he didn’t have to wait for long.

He should probably check his accounts to see whether or not he needed to visit the Accounting Department. His saving was melting faster than he predicted.

He sat down and started typing an email.

There was something to be said about writing mails to strangers. It was really something different. He knew how to talk to get what he wanted most of the time, but the biggest hazard was when you couldn’t adjust what you say because you were unable to see their reaction.

‘’Huh? There is nothing on your desk today’’

He was pulled away from his work by the same man that was blessedly absent this morning. He took a deep breath and continued typing.

‘’I know’’

He said absent-mindly.

‘’Shame, I’ve got used to treats’’ He sat down and sighed. ‘’You didn’t offend them, right? You know you could milk it for a year at least, right? Free sweets in a place like this? What did you do?’’ He jabbered.

‘’Do what?’’

Katagawa frowned. This guy was hopeless.

‘’For somebody to just leave it here for you’’ He rested his head on the palm of his hand that was laying on the desk.

‘’Nothing’’ He hit send and opened another blank word document.

‘’Bullshit! I don’t get anything!’’ He raised his voice, but a near-by woman hushed him and glared as if he killed her firstborn. Thank whoever listened to him that there was someone who tried to temper him.

‘’I wonder why’’

‘’No, seriously! Is it because you are a Katagawa?’’

Oh, yeah. Someone wanted something from him and they didn’t announce that it was them who gave him these presents. Of course, it made sense. He rolled his eyes.

‘’Maybe’’

‘’How I wish I was a part of some influential family! If that’s the perks you get anywhere you go then sign me the fuck up!’’ He whined.

* * *

He was laying in bed, with only his boxers on. His silk, green sheets were cold against his back. Katagawa’s skin was pink and pleasantly warm from the hot shower he had taken a few minutes back. He could let himself unwind, knowing that his father and other executives had some meeting with the Jacobs. As of now, he would be talking about new deals and he wouldn't have the time to check on his son. A few months from the last time he had to change the recordings, he was doing it again. The timing was ideal as he just got some information he had requested six weeks ago. Hopefully something of more substance would be included in the message. 

He grabbed his comlink that he mainly used to communicate with his spy and checked new messages. He still got some occasional messages from Naoko on this device, but he didn’t pay it any mind. She would be bored after a while and then pester the others.

_Here is the information you wanted about the vaults._

He licked his lips in anticipation and clicked on it. He felt a little giddy for the prospect of getting one over Katagawa Sr. But it wasn’t the only one reason for that unusual state of mind. He could safely say that hunting a vault was somehow exciting, even though he didn’t do so himself. Maybe, thanks to him of course, they would get a new piece of revolutionary technology from one vault and then there would be nothing that could stay in his way.

Or maybe something else would be found in the vault. He wasn’t completely sure what it was, because his life was a sheltered one and vault hunters weren’t the most forthcoming with the information especially to strangers.

So he was left with the reconnaissance made by his paid workers.

Katagawa looked at the file he was sent.

_The Vault of Traveler  
Location: Pandora, ???  
The key: already assembled  
The status of the vault: unclear, no rumours about it being opened  
Hyperion activity detected  
None well-known vault hunter detected_

‘’Pandora?’’

What was with this planet? Everything involved this bandit infested rock. Not only that, but the closer location is an unknown… He wouldn’t risk going there if there was no concrete location.

He scratches his smooth chest lightly.

Someone already assembled the key, huh. Maybe he could use them to open it and then kill off the wannabe vault hunters and loot that place? But that would involve taking some troops with him. One man army wasn’t an option in a case like this. He himself was rusty; he hadn’t trained for some time. 

Telling his father was out of the question. He would only show his hand and let him know that he did have alternative news sources. There would be questions… No. He needed them for the bigger fish than some vault.

Maybe, he should wait. Learn the exact location and then proceed to eliminate them one by one. That would require paying off some assassins but that could be done with the trip to the Accounting. He would have to think about it.

Hyperion activity was worrisome… But disposable assassins would do. But he had to wait and see if there was a need for such measures. 

_Focus on the location._

_Understood._

* * *

He wasn’t even surprised anymore that every day he would see a new package on his desk. He didn’t want to feed that annoying guy anymore. Full of resignation, he opened the top and peered inside. He saw that there was…

He sniffed it because he wasn’t sure what it was. Instantly he smelled something sweet like honey. His eyes widened. He knew that honey was hard to get so whoever that was paid a handsome sum of money for just this one ingredient. 

He pulled out the fork that was inside the box and cut off a little piece of the cake. He was positive that whoever left those didn't want to kill him. Otherwise, his neighbour would have been long dead and he would have some peace and quiet. He took a bite and fought the moan that threatened to escape from him.

Now he knew why he was being pestered for those treats. The cake was the perfect texture and its sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. He ate it slowly, savouring it and maybe, deep down, hoping that the black-haired menace would see him eating it. Just a small payback for all the times he had to listen to those bordering on pornografical moans. Just thinking about it made him uncomfortable.

It didn’t take long until all of it disappeared. 

‘’Oh! You’ve eaten it?’’

He closed the top and put the whole box to the side.

‘’What was it?’’

He heard him sit down. Katagawa turned the computer on and started writing a message to the Accounting Department. 

He let the guy stew for a little bit in uncertainty. When he felt like enough time passed, and the guy would lose his hope for getting an answer, Katagawa finally said.

‘’Honeycake’’

He felt him staring at the side of his face, but he didn’t pay it any mind. He already had half of the mail done as it was a simple shortening of what his superior sent to him. The next thing he heard was a quiet ‘fuck’.

* * *

He was walking down the road towards his room when he heard someone calling him.

‘’Katagawa!’’

He turned towards Naoko, who was standing in the group of women. She was waving him over, but he ignored it with a shake of his head and went on. Katagawa was marching through the hall when he stumbled upon Yuko. For a minute there he thought he was safe, but unfortunately, he wasn’t blessed with a quick getaway.

‘’What are you doing here?’’

She asked icily. She was in her late twenties. She was tall and thin; her hair were long, straight and black with bangs that reached her eyebrows, and her eyes were like two black holes bereft of any resemblance of emotion. The perfect picture of professionalism as opposed to her daily persona which she showed mostly to Naoko.

She thought that she could fool anyone into thinking that she was a responsible adult when in reality she couldn’t save money to save her worthless hide.

‘’I live here, didn’t you know?’’

Katagawa deadpanned. Honestly, why would he expect anything else from Yuko. It was a miracle that they rarely crossed paths when she was orbiting Naoko so much.

She scowled at him while tilting her chin up.

‘’Oh, yes. I forgot you are still here.’’ She smirked slightly. 

Katagawa for only a moment was wondering what ranking she was. How come he was the only one whose achievements weren’t appreciated? He would make them all pay. Kill all of them at the same time. There would be no more scoffing, gossiping and telling lies about him. He needed to think about it.

‘’And where would I be?’’ He raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms on his chest.

‘’Where your mother is’’

Oh, so we were on this level. Those petty insults towards his parent. Did she think that it would somehow offend him?

‘’She was yours too or did you forget?’’ He smirked slightly.

‘’Unfortunately’’ She sighed and turned to the right, facing the huge statue of someone supposedly important. Katagawa didn’t care enough to remember them. 

‘’What does that mean?’’ He glared at her, silently wishing a thunderbolt to strike her where she stood.

‘’Exactly how it sounds Katagawa Jr.’’ She smiled, putting an emphasis on the last part. She was actively trying to find a weak point.

‘’I don’t think you understand one thing’’ He stalked leaned towards her face ‘’I’m also not happy that we share DNA, but at least I try to do something with my life unlike you’’ Oh, how was he going to use the fact that her ad wasn’t as successful as his own. He saw the statistics and they filled him with joy whether he saw them. He loved such surprises.

‘’And how does that work out for you?’’

She hissed while taking a step back from him.

‘’Better than your position’’

He adjusted his new cufflinks he presented to himself for doing such good a job with the newest campaign.

‘’If you want to tell yourself that’’

She parted her hair and put them in such a way so her whole tattoo was visible but only for a moment. Yuko laughed and then walked away from him.

‘’Go away because that is the only thing you can do without anyone’s help!’’

Till this day he couldn’t fathom how someone who was closer to their thirties would behave like this. He expected that this type of behaviour would cease to exist with their puberty period. However, somehow, it was still possible to act like a school bully and be admired by the masses.

He wasn’t sad by this per say, but it was thought provoking how she could have people admire her spending money spectacularly.

* * *

Katagawa opened the lid and looked inside. 

He blinked a couple of times, not believing what his eyes were seeing. He slowly reached inside and pulled out a suspiciously familiar wooden figurine he had thrown away. He looked around, but found nobody else.

He took the wooden squirrel out and scrutinized it. It was indeed the very same one. He put the box down and blinked when he saw a green, small paper folded in two, sitting innocently on his desk.

Katagawa reached for it and unfolded it. He scoffed when he saw a carefully drawn smiley face. Underneath it there was a small message, written by hand with red ink. 

_Happy Birthday!_

The handwriting was neat and small, but there weren’t any distinguishable features to it. Katagawa scowled and crushed the paper into a ball.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided against publishing this chapter exactly on 25th of September. I won't make you wait any longer. <s> after I written yet again the end that had disappeared on me </s> I don't know when there will be another one as it isn't finished, but, hopefully, I leave you with something that resemblance more of a proper cliffhanger ;) Hope you enjoy it! Thank you all for your comments! They were all lovely ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

Katagawa was fixing his collar so his monochromatic black suit wouldn’t look rumpled, and he by default, slovenly. He wasn’t excited by any means for an upcoming celebration. Naoko celebrated her birthday and so did the rest of the family. There wasn’t a way out of this particular event, and he for once was glad that it did happen in their mansion.

Living and working at the same place might be good if you wanted to spare time for travelling, but at the cost of your freedom. There was no way he could escape without alerting anyone. One of the reasons why he hadn’t ventured on his own was that his father and a person that would be his superior at the time would know instantly.

Katagawa silently treasures the time when he would be somewhere else. The game didn’t change, but the scenery was making the whole situation more bearable. 

His room in this place wasn’t used much so it contained little to none of his personal things. He couldn’t remember even the reason for building this house when nobody lived here permanently. Nowadays, it is used as a representative space built far away from the main HQ of Maliwan. The planet was different, from its pastel blue and pink sky to its purple and red vegetation. The fauna didn’t reach above Katagawa’s knees and they weren’t dangerous to humans. Perfect place to host a celebration that would include wasted guests.

He walked out of the room, making his way towards the banquet hall. For the longest time he was the only one walking through a tapestry covered hallway. The colours were neutral, and the only hint of colour was the red carpet.

He wondered why anyone would put such an intense colour next to bland beige, but some part of him thought it would be easier to manage the blood stains. But on the other hand there are other materials that made the same problem easier to solve.

When he turned the corner, he heard soft classical music coming from behind the closest doors. They were covered in suede like material, a shade darker than nearby walls. The doors opened automatically by the valets that had some supernatural hearing sense, because to this day he didn’t manage to uncover their secret.

Inside the huge room were a lot of employees and other opportunists. Some men were wearing standard black, but there were some who wanted to be unique and express it with their colourful jackets and other pieces of clothing. Women were wearing long evening dresses. It reminded him more of some prestigious galas than a birthday party.

He nodded to some people while making his way towards a table full of various alcoholic beverages. He took the first champagne flute that was closest to him and made his way towards the stage on which some high end stuck up band was playing their sad pieces.

The music came to an end and then his father cleared his throat and started his speech.  
‘’I’m glad I can see you all here today. We are celebrating two things: first one is my daughter's birthday and the second one is a successful release of Multiplex - the newest sniper rifle.’’

His father stopped and all of the sycophants started clapping and nodding their head in agreement. Katagawa meanwhile took a sip of his champagne and then made his way more to the side of the room.

‘’Our mission is not yet complete, we still have competition, but I know we will rise to dominance in a few years. Our team is skilled, and we have something others don’t. We have a sense of aesthetics.’’

Katagawa looked around and spotted some of his siblings, mingling around the place. A few executives with their wives or husbands, and a few with their side pieces. Nothing out of ordinary.

‘’- Jacobs weapons are like relics of our past, not only their reload cannot concur with ours, but their design is-’’

He did a double take when he saw a familiar blond head. He frowned.

‘’- Hyperion hasn’t yet rise from the blow it was dealt when Helios crashed into the Pandoran landscape-’’

He didn't expect her to be here. The list of people he ought to talk to was getting bigger. He put the champagne flute to his lips and tilted, but it took him a second that he already drunk the whole liquid. He slowly lowered it while eying the Head of Accounting.

‘’- Maliwan is a company like no other. Our laboratories are state of an art - ‘’

He really needed to talk to the new guy who became the boss of Accounting. Here would be the best place to start his web, so when he would come and walk around in the department, it wouldn’t be suspicious.

‘’- Maliwan is creating the future and so do you as long as you are part of the winning team’’

The crowd erupted into cheers. Reluctantly, Katagawa clapped his hands while holding the glass in his hand. He stared at his father who looked at the crowd expressionless. It didn't deter the rest from showing cheerfulness at whatever was said during the speech.

Katagawa Sr. made his way towards Naoko, who was standing on the stage the whole time, but more in the corner. He put his right hand on her left shoulder, nodded his head at her and then left to do whatever he would do after.

The band started playing more cheerful music, but it wasn’t much of an improvement from the previous music pieces. When his father disappeared behind the closed doors, the guests became livelier. It was the time to extort from others in the name of self gain. 

Katagawa made his way towards the table from which he took champagne from before. On his way he handed his empty glass to a waiter that went around the guests and collected used glasses.

He took another one and made his way towards the nearby wall. He leaned on it and observed people. He didn’t want to appear as desperate so the waiting game it was. The best option would be if his targets came to him, but Katagawa knew that his chances were slim with his siblings here.

He saw his brother talking with a redheaded woman, Naoko was talking with Yuko. He turned towards his target for today's celebration. The man just ended his conversation with an older gentleman.

Now or never.

He made his way after grabbing another drink as a gift for conversation starter. 

‘’Good afternoon Mr…’’

The man turned towards him, an obese man with a neck beard and a pair of dark sunglasses that successfully covered his eyes.

‘’Mitchell Morrone, Head of Accounting’’

Katagawa gave the other drink to the man and then they shook hands.

‘’What number can you subtract half from to obtain a result of zero?’’

He blinked, surprised.

‘’Pardon?’’

‘’Youth nowadays don’t put much emphasis on logical thinking. Numbers and riddles are what top entertainment is. If they would pay me for writing a book of riddles I would in a heartbeat, but alas I have to be an accountant.’’ Morrone sighed heavily.

‘’It’s… number 8. Made of two zeroes.’’ Katagawa said after a moment of thinking. Was he going to answer stupid riddles to somehow gain a little bit of sympathy? 

‘’Very well’’ He sounded impressed.

He stopped himself from glaring. It wasn’t as if he was a complete moron that couldn’t answer a simple riddle. It wasn’t even that hard.

‘’Maliwan can place 8 large boxes of ammo or 10 small boxes of ammo into a carton for shipping. In one shipment, we sent a total of 96 boxes. If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many cartons did we ship?’’

Morrone sipped his champagne.

‘’Don’t worry if you can’t answer it. It is only one of the questions you get while trying for the lowest position’’

What a dick. He started to miss the previous guy. Couldn’t he like a normal person be happy with a few compliments and strokes of his ego?

10’s are useless here. He needed a number that multiplied by 8 would give a 6 at the end…  
2 wouldn’t be enough because he wanted bigger boxes than smaller… 

‘’11 cartoons. 7 big ones with 8 large boxes which gives 56 boxes, and 4 smaller ones with 10 boxes each. In total 96 boxes’’

The man stared at him as if he was a dancing claptrap.

‘’Oh, well. I thought you would go away, but you are… correct’’

He looked disappointed for a bit, until full of resignation he asked him.

‘’What do you want from me Katagawa Jr.?’’

‘’I haven’t been to your department before. I would like to ask if there was a possibility of learning from you. I heard you made some adjustments and I couldn’t let this opportunity go’’

The man scratched his beard and looked at him as if he was searching for the sightless hint of deception.

‘’All right, I guess…’’

‘’So in a week's time I’ll come to your department to see how-’’

‘’’Yes, yes. I’ll show it to you. Do not worry Katagawa Jr. You are welcome to my department any time you want. You are learning, right? Just don’t think I’ll go easy on you or any of my supervisors… We are all extremely bright and demanding.’’

Katagawa bit back a retort and shook the man’s hand again before the man made his way towards the buffet, leaving behind Katagawa. He sighed quietly, knowing perfectly well that they didn’t talk about everything he wanted and thus it would cause problems in the future.  
He wasn’t left alone for long, however. As soon as he turned around, he spotted a familiar face making her way towards him.

‘’Hello Katagawa’’ A silky voice greeted him, at odds with her sharp green eyes and bloody red lipstick.

‘’Lynne. I didn’t know you were invited’’

He smirked at the blonde. She was wearing a baby-blue suit and matching high heels. Her hair was longer, pulled into a horse tail.

‘’I wasn’t’’

She grabbed a glass from a passing-by waiter. She took a sip while watching him carefully.

‘’How does the… how did you put it? ‘VIP chair’ treats you as a VP?’’

He raised an eyebrow at her and waited patiently for her answer.

She turned towards the crowd and looked at the people who were mostly staying near food and drinks.

‘’Well… thank you for asking’’

She looked at him with an unreadable face which put him automatically on guard. 

‘’Do you want something from me? You know you own me already’’

‘’It’s not that. I’m working on getting an even better position’’ She subtly moved her head in the direction of a redheaded woman.

‘’Who is she?’’ He sipped his own champagne.

Lynne moved closer to him, moving her body that way so nobody would be able to decipher what she was saying.

‘’New Head of Advertisement and Propaganda. I took your playbook so to say.’’

‘’How so?’’ He asked nonchalantly.

‘’Ohh, don’t pretend. I helped her to where she is now and then I will take over her place, but in the meantime she owes me some favours’’

She took a step back from him.

‘’I don’t know what you are talking about, Lynne. I didn’t install you anywhere. It was your own skills and passion’’ He wasn’t so stupid to admit to that in here. She may appear nice right now, but she wasn’t like that. A snake waiting for an occasion.

‘’If you want to insist..’’

He hoped she didn’t bring up his father. Hopefully, she forgot about it, because he wasn’t nearly drunk enough for the second round of that conversation.

And she didn’t, because the redheaded woman in question arrived, showing off her olive skin in her skin-tight white dress.

‘’There you are, I was searching for you Miss Tracz’’

She said in a low voice. Katagawa now saw that her nose was a little crooked which from afar wasn’t visible. It gave her some charm, as she didn't fit into standard beauty canon.

‘’I was just talking with Katagawa Jr.’’

She smiled charmingly as if she wasn’t admitting not too long ago that she wanted her position for herself.

‘’Do you know each other very well?’’

‘’Not really’’ said Lynne.

‘’We were having an introduction’’ He said.

Redhead smiled at him and turned towards the blonde.

‘’There is someone I want to introduce you to’’

She side-eyed him.

‘’No problem. Katagawa… It was nice to meet you’’

Lynne smiled at him mischievously.

‘’You too.’’

And then they walked away, yet again leaving him alone for the rest of the evening.

Katagawa decided to wait for an hour and then go to his room. He knew that there was no one else with whom he was willing to talk to, and so his wait was for appearance sake. It would mark three hours of his presence in a social event that didn’t really interest him beyond the first talk.

He made his way towards the snack table and took some which looked delicious. He took a few of some frutti di mare or other, put it on his plate and started eating with his back to the room. It was his supper after all.

When he finished, the band changed its piece to something more calm and talk friendly.

Katagawa left behind his plate and made his way towards the door that he used before. Unfortunately, he encountered Naoko herself - the only person that he was somewhat trying to escape.

‘’-so I’ve heard that Mrs. Anhey was the one that cheated-’’

Yuko was telling Naoko when he was just passing them by until Naoko called him. He turned towards her when he saw the nearby guests do the same. He saw Yuko’s annoyed face and Naoko’s open face and he made his face as hard to read as he could.

‘’Hello sisters’’ He hid his hands behind his back, but his posture wasn’t stiff. He wasn’t before his commanding officers.

Naoko was wearing an orange lace evening dress while Yuko was wearing a teal slinky one.

‘’Hello Katagawa’’ She smiled at him when Yuko nearly sneered.

‘’Hello Junior’’

Oh how he hated when they would point it out. He perfectly knew what it meant to have this name. Not to be treated as an individual, but as an extension of someone else. And they wouldn’t stop themselves from putting it into the spotlight, so to say. 

‘’Could we speak privately later Katagawa?’’ Naoko asked him.

‘’I was just going to my room-’’

‘’That’s great! I will walk you to it!’’ Naoko made a step towards him, but was halted by Yuko who put her hand on her elbow, stopping her in her tracks.

‘’We were supposed to meet with the new executive?’’ Yuko looked at Naoko pointently, while Naoko stared at her with confusion.

‘’No, I don’t believe-’’

‘’Oh, that’s more than fine’’ He smiled fakely.

‘’No, I want to discuss something with you’’

She stared stubbornly at him. He knew it was better to let her vent out and continue on his way. He looked at Yuko and her barely contained anger and he smirked internally. Maybe he could combine two things into one - Yuko’s anger and his peace of mind for the rest of the evening after getting this conversation out of the way.

‘’Lead the way then’’

Naoko smiled at him and gently grabbed his arm at the elbow. He really wanted to pull away, but appearances are important, and so he let her hand stay there.

They went out of the room, but instead of making their way towards bedrooms, Naoko took an opposite route. They made their way towards the gardens, or to be more precise - to the bower that was standing a little further away from the path.

‘’I don’t think it is necessary to have this conversation out here’’ 

He said blankly, watching her carefully.

‘’I wanted us to have some privacy, and back there someone would eavesdrop’’

They stopped in the middle of the bower and only then Naoko took her hand away.

‘’Listen… I know we didn’t have the best start-’’ She started slowly, a little unsure.

‘’It’s an understatement’’ He cut in a little impatiently. 

‘’Yes… That’s why I want to have a fresh start’’

‘’Why?’’ 

He was suspicious. Nothing good would come up from this.

‘’Because I think we could be more than what we are to each other. Like true siblings that can count on each other. People that would with happiness and without animosity sit together, and have dinner’’

She smiled and looked at him warmly.

They looked at each other for a minute until Katagawa turned away.

‘’That’s… interesting, but as you know I have an early morning tomorrow’’

He took a step towards the mansion, but was turned around firmly by Naoko. She clasped her hands on his shoulders.  
‘’I know you don’t believe me, but-’’

She stopped suddenly. Katagawa frowned at her. Naoko reached her right hand to her neck where, as Katagawa took a look, a red thing was sticking out. She pulled it out and confusedly stared at it. It looked like a dart of some kind.

He felt a prick in his neck. While he was reaching out for his own, his vision got blurry. His eyelids felt heavy as if some great weight was pulling them down, Katagawa's legs felt weak as if they were turned into wet noodles and just by some miracle he was still upright. He pulled the dart out and that was the last thing he did before Naoko fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes with Katagawa following suit not long after.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? I'll appreciate all of them <3


End file.
